Puckleberry Games
by jennh07
Summary: Noah Puckerman is picked to be the male tribute in the 74th Hunger Games. He'll have to fight his way through them to get back home to Rachel, but will he be able to do it? Glee/Hunger Games crossover. Some spoilers if you have not read the trilogy.
1. Chapter 1

**I was re-reading The Hunger Games, and I got this idea in my head.  
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**I do not own Glee or the Hunger Games. Slight time difference in some of the characters from the book.**

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><p>Noah Puckerman gently swiped his thumb across the softest cheek he knew then reached to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. He smiles to himself before kissing his girlfriend's temple. Noah breathes in her beauty, wondering how he got so lucky.<p>

"Rach." He whispers against her temple. She sighs slightly and he chuckles. Kissing her forehead he breathes out, "Rachel, baby get up."

Rachel smiles and raises her hand, finding her way to his cheek. Her eyes flutter open until she is looking into the most beautiful hazel green eyes she's ever seen.

"Good morning." He smiles at her and pecks her lips.

She hums in approval and kisses him back. "Good morning Noah."

Rachel thought about how she snuck into his room late last night, wanting to be in his arms. She loved how he smelled like the sea, after hours of working as a deckhand on the boat his father used to work on. The smell was comforting to her. She moved her hand to the back of his neck, rubbing the short hairs there. She giggles slightly when his eyes flutter close.

Noah sighed. He was used to waking up earlier than everyone else in District 4 to go to the docks. But on nights that he slept with Rachel, he hated the mornings. Rachel helps out in her mother's bakery/floral shop and he loves the smell of honey and sea salt that lingers on her skin and in her hair. But he knew that they had to get up, already dreading the extra busy day ahead of him plus Rachel having to sneak back into her house.

"Rachel, you need to get back home before your parents kill me." He lets out a breath and steps out of bed.

She groaned at the loss of his body heat. She admired the way his muscles worked as he got dressed, buttoning his shirt up. Rachel bit her lip and got up, pulling on one of Noah's button up shirts and her white shorts. She slips on her broken in boat shoes while pulling her wavy hair up in a pony tail, then walks behind Noah. She wraps her arms around his waist from behind.

"I could do this every day forever."

Noah smiles at her in the dirty old mirror that his family has then maneuvers his arm to cradle Rachel into his side. "Is that so?"

"Mm." She hums and smiles lazily at him.

Noah pulls out a small box from his pocket while she has her eyes closed. He saved every last penny he could when he wasn't taking care of his mom and sister. It wasn't a big diamond by any means, but he hoped she would like it. He opened it and nudged her arm gently with it. She opens her eyes and lets out a small gasp. Her eyes water and looks up at him with her dark chocolate brown eyes.

"Do this. With me, for the rest of our lives. Marry me."

Rachel bites her lip and nods her head. Noah grins and slips the ring onto the appropriate finger. She wraps her arms around his neck to kiss him. The box drops and he lifts her and automatically her legs wrap around his waist while he lightly pushes her against the wall. He cups her face with his hands and kisses her.

"I love you Rachel Berry."

"I love you too Noah."

He smiles and grabs her hand after letter her down. They walk down the hall quietly, knowing his sister is still asleep in the room she shares with his mother. It wasn't a large house, but he gets his own room since he's the only male in the house. The small kitchen attaches to the very small living area, but he doesn't expect his mother to be standing in the kitchen when they get to the door.

"Good morning Noah, Rachel." She turns around, blowing on her coffee and looking at the two.

Rachel blushes and murmurs a quiet good morning to her.

Noah wraps his arms around her from behind, then slowly lifts up her left hand. His mom lets out a small gasp, puts down her mug then hugs Rachel closely while smiling at her son.

"Tonight, we'll celebrate. We can tell Sarah then, oh she'll be so excited. Invite your parents. It won't be much, but a celebration none the less."

"Okay Mrs. P-"

"No, no dear. We're family now. It's either mom or Emily."

"Thank you Emily." Rachel smiles, not entirely comfortable with calling her mom just yet.

"Thanks ma. I'll see you after work." Noah grabs his things he'll need along with the few items to fix a fishing net.

"Oh, here." His mother hands him a mug. "I made coffee. I know it'll be a long day. Due to tomorrow…" She trails off, biting her lip.

"Thanks mom. Love you."

They leave together, hand in hand. The sun is barely beginning to rise as Noah walks Rachel home. They're happy with the silence of the morning knowing they'll have time to talk later. Birds begin to chirp, wanting to catch fish from the sea. He's looking out at the ocean which just comes into view when Rachel breaks the silence.

"I don't want to think about tomorrow. At all. I want to celebrate us tonight."

He looks at her, the worried crease in between her eyebrows. He releases her hand then pulls her in close. "Of course, just us." He smiles as they reach her door, then kisses her forehead. "Tonight. I love you."

She smiles brightly at him. "I love you too."

Noah watches her close the door before turning on his heel and heading towards the dock. He smiles to himself, remembering when they had their first kiss nearly five years ago. It was a few hours after his father died. They were friends before, but not extremely close, but when she found out he saw her in a different light. Rachel showed up at his door that night. Tears streaming down her perfectly tanned cheeks and her nose slightly red. He smiles sadly and pulls her into his arms as if it were her father who just died. Noah rubbed her back and led her to his room, laying down on his bed. She instantly picked up that he didn't want to talk about it, so she leaned forward and gave him a small kiss. Their first.

If he was honest, Noah didn't care too much about his father's death. Yes, his odd accident on the boat wasn't exactly pleasant (he still doesn't know to this day what exactly happened) but he was an abusive drunk. His dad only spent as much as he needed to for his family, spending the rest on white liquor. So he was relieved in a way. It wasn't easy though. That first year he had to sign up for tesserae while looking for a job at 14. Fortunately, the man his father worked with took pity on him and made him a deckhand on his boat. Teaching him all the things that his father didn't.

Rachel and Noah stayed close ever since. Stealing light kisses when they could until their best friend Santana caught them and made them talk out their feelings. It was only a year and a half ago when he felt truly happy again with Rachel by his side. He owed Santana and one day he would make it up to her.

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><p>Noah walked down the dock and spotter the Evans' boat. He tosses the gear onto the deck then goes under the covering where the wheel is. Steve looks up and smirks.<p>

"It's about time Puckerman."

"Had to walk Rachel home." Noah sits on the bench to finish his coffee.

"I remember when Sammy would do the same thing." Steve sighs and sits next to him, thinking of him as the son he lost three years ago.

Noah sighs, remembering why today would be so long. Reaping Day is tomorrow. The only day where everyone can sleep in and have the day off to watch the Reapings across all 12 Districts they're forced to watch on TV. Sam was one of his closest friends. Three years ago he was picked as the male tribute to go to the Hunger Games. A sick game pulling a boy and girl from each District between the ages 12-18, throwing them into an arena to battle to the death until one survives. Sam made it to the final four. He hated the games, even though this is his last year to be eligible. Sarah would start next year though.

Steven groans. "Just seems to get worse every year. Always seems to be Sam's friends that get dragged to the Capitol." He slaps Noah's shoulder then squeezes lightly. "Let's get to work so you can get home early to that pretty girl of yours."

Noah smirks at Steve's back. He knows this gets harder for the man every year mourning the death of his son, but he looks up to the guy like an uncle. While they drift off to sea, he sets to work on fixing the spare net on the boat anxious to get home for dinner.


	2. Chapter 2

He was relieved when Steve called it a day. They caught enough fish to last anyone through the Reaping before they could get back out to the sea. His hands and body were tired. He was walking home slowly, excited about dinner with Rachel and their families.

"Hey Puckerman."

Noah turns towards the sound of the voice and smirked. He was walking by the Victors Village, where anyone who wins the Hunger Games gets a house that was built in a section specifically by the Capitol. Finnick Odair, his best friend and Victor of the Games four years earlier, was sitting on his front porch. Noah looked at his house in the distance then decided he had a few minutes to spare.

"Hey Odair." He sits down and notices that Finnick's bronze hair is a mess, his eyes tired. Maybe another nightmare.

"Ask that girl of yours to marry you yet?"

"This morning actually." He grins and tosses a rock into the fluffy green grass.

"Congrats man. About time too, thought I might have to take her off your hands." He winks and mimics Noah's actions with the rock.

"Ready for tomorrow?" Finnick looks at Noah.

"As ready as I can be. But it won't stop. I'll just have Sarah to worry about next year."

Finnick groans and scrubs a hand over his face. "I forgot she's eligible next year. Fuck."

"Yeah. Who's mentoring with you this year? Annie?"

"Emma. Don't think Annie could handle it."

Annie won the Games last year, but when she came back her mind had started to deteriorate. And fast. No one knew how to help her, even though there were Victors that she could talk to. Emma won the year before Finnick went to the Games, she turned 18 in the arena. Sponsors sent a warm cake on that day when she made top 3. Afterwards she married his old teacher Will Schuester. She fell in love with the curly haired man when the red head had a breakdown after her victory tour in the Berry's bakery. He took care of her since then, making the nightmares comes less frequently.

"Emma's good though. She got me back. It'll be alright, I think." Finnick mumbles tossing another rock, but more violently this time.

"Guess we'll see. Well I need to go. Celebratory dinner with the families tonight." Noah bumps his fist with Finnick. "Breakfast tomorrow. You, me, Rach and San."

"Yeah, alright." Finnick watches Noah head back to his house while he goes back in his entirely too empty one.

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><p>Rachel and Noah take a walk holding hands towards the dock after dinner. Sarah was excited about the news, hugging Rachel then sitting next to her, asking questions. Most of them wondering why she even liked her brother in the first place. Rachel's parents were beyond happy, hugging him and welcoming them into their family.<p>

Tonight the stars were shining brightly along with the moon high in the sky. They approached Steve's boat and sat down on the deck against one of the benches. Rachel sits in between his legs against his chest. His arms wrap around her midsection then kisses her hair.

"What a perfect night." She sighs. "Santana tossed a few cookies she was frosting into the kiln when she saw my ring."

Noah chuckles, rubbing the small band of her ring. "She's crazy."

"We love her."

"I love you."

Rachel turns so she's on her knees in front of him. He furrows his eyebrows, but puts his arms on the bench behind him. She puts her small hands on his collar and kisses him. Then she breathes out on his lips. "I want to make love to you."

He just looks into her eyes when she begins to unbutton his shirt slowly. She bites her lip when he sets his hands on her hips. Once she gets the last button undone, she pushes it off his shoulders then kisses him lightly. He grips the bottom of her dress and pulls it up over her head, revealing her bra and panties. He pulls her in closer then kisses her collar bone. She reaches behind herself and unfastens her bra, then puts it on top of her dress. She unbuttons his pants, but then he gets up and lays her down on top of his shirt. He quickly undresses then sits in between her legs. Noah quickly notices that Rachel had taken off her panties.

"You're so beautiful." He kisses her and rests his hand on her waist.

"Please Noah." She looks up at him.

He can tell that she's nervous. But since this is her first time he inserts a finger into her folds to try and help her stretch a bit. She already knows that he's been with women before. It wasn't exactly hidden in most of District 4, but she still loved him regardless. She trusts him that he knows what he's doing it. She doesn't question anything he's doing at the moment.

"It's going to hurt at first."

She smiles nervously then pulls him close to her to kiss him. He licks at her bottom lip, wanting her to open her mouth. She gasps when she feels him slightly enter her, so he takes that opportunity to distract her. Their tongues fighting for dominance. She notices that Noah has stilled then realized that he was fully in her, waiting for her to adjust.

Noah pulls back and notices a tear threatening to fall out from her eye. He kisses her cheek and rubs circles on her waist. "Just concentrate on my kissing Rachel. It'll get better."

When she nods, he kisses up her jaw and slowly pulls out then back in again. Rachel lets out a whimper before he quiets her with a kiss. When she starts to kiss back more passionately, he increases his speed. It's not long at all until Rachel is asking him to go faster or a bit harder, wrapping her legs around his waist. He hits a spot that makes her breathe out his name, followed by a hushed harder. He obliges then takes his finger to circle her bundle of nerves. Rachel is fluttering around his length and panting. He pushes into her a bit harder.

"Come Rachel, don't hold back."

She nods, then suddenly moans, arching her body towards him as she lets go. Noah pumps into her two more times before he releases, then leans his head onto her shoulder, kissing it lightly. She rubs the back of his head.

"I love you."

"Love you too baby." He smiles down at her then pulls out. She whimpers, hating the loss.

They quickly get dressed, then walk back towards her house. Noah puts his arm around her and kisses the top of her head. It's not too late, but everyone is at home getting ready for the Reaping tomorrow. He closes his eyes for a second then before he knows it, they're at the door.

"Get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning for breakfast." He smiles at her.

"Okay Noah. This has been the most perfect day. I love you."

He drops a kiss onto her lips, saying I love you too against hers. She gives him tight hug then goes inside.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Glee or The Hunger Games**

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><p>The morning of the Reaping, Noah stretches out in his bed, smiling at the thought of Rachel as his fiancée. Then he groans, scrubbing a hand over his face remembering what today consisted of. He rolls out of bed to quickly shower so he can get to breakfast. Noah throws on some shorts and a shirt before walking to the front door.<p>

"Don't get back too late. Sarah wants to walk with you to the town square." Emily looks at him pointedly.

"Yeah mom, I know."

Noah steps out into the bright morning with only a few hours until the Reaping. He heads over to the Berry's bakery to meet up with Rachel, Finnick and Santana. On his way there, a body with skin as tan as his with long, dark wavy hair down her back, starts to walk beside him. Her eyes a shade darker than Rachel's but taller than his girl.

"Hey bitch."

She smirks at the term. If you weren't close to her, she was in fact a bitch. "Congratulations. I expect your first child to be associated with me in some way you know."

He laughs. "Whatever, that's up to Rachel. If she even wants to have kids."

Santana sighs, knowing that it's hard to want a child knowing that they'll just have to deal with the stress of possibly being picked for the Hunger Games one day. This was her last year for eligibility as well as Rachel and Noah, but everyone worried about having to think of little Sarah next year. She lets out a little hum seeing the bakery coming up. Rachel is arranging flowers on the tables that hold the different varieties of bread her father makes and they see Finnick strolling up too.

"How do you think he handles it every year?" She murmurs, looking at Finnick's sea foam eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Watching kids we know every year, having to mentor them and try to bring them home. And living next door to Annie can't be easy either."

Noah contemplates this, never really thinking about it. In a way he knows that Finnick has issues with it. He won't ever talk about it, but the Capitol also has him do other work while he's in town for the Games. He always refuses to say anything but his work, sworn to some sort of secrecy. He scratches his head, then finally says, "I don't know. But I'm glad he hasn't started to drink like a fish like the guy from 12."

They all walk into the little building and Rachel lets out a squeak then runs towards Noah. He kisses her and silently says "hey baby" to her. Santana and Finnick let out a little laugh before Rachel turns to hug them both.

"Congrats Rachel. Puck told me last night on his way home."

Rachel glares lightly at Noah then looks back to Finnick, pouting slightly. "I wanted to tell you. But thank you. Daddy let us have the bacon he got a few days ago, and I made toast and eggs. I figured we could do something special for the last year of our eligibility."

Santana rolls her eyes but sits down. "I'm not sure if it's a great thing to celebrate, but I'm starving so I don't even care."

Finnick stares at the food, knowing that in a matter of hours he will be having richer food on the train to the Capitol. He closes his eyes and puts his hands in his pocket, wondering which of his friends he might have to escort this year. He knows this is homemade and made with love, the scrapes on the plates as they work to eat the eggs. Someone clears their throat and he opens his eyes. They're all looking at him, when he realizes he's the only one standing. Quietly sitting down, he starts to eat his toast plain while Rachel looks at him worriedly.

"Rach, what are you doing to wear?" Santana takes a bite of her toast that's loaded with jam and looks at the smaller girl.

"I don't know, probably my red dress."

Both men groan and look to each other to start their own conversation. "Do you think Haymitch will do something stupid on TV this year?"

Finnick snorts, "He does every year. Last year he fell off the stage when I was watching the Reapings on TV. Effie will probably freak out even more." He thinks about the bubbly blonde he's seen at the training center.

"What is she like in person?" Rachel asks quietly, hoping not to send Finnick into a bad mood with his eyes closed.

He leans back and thinks, "She's not so bad. I'm sure she's frustrated with not having any winners, but she's not as…perky, I guess you could say."

Santana laughs, "May the odds be _ever_ in your favor." She takes another bite of her toast. "She seems to be caring though."

Noah looks over at her, knowing that she wishes her parents would love her a bit more or be proud of her. But his and Rachel's family considered a daughter of their own, taking care of her when she felt neglected by her own parents. They both worked in the Justice Building. No one quite knew what they did, but no one questioned it. The three of them loved having Santana around.

Rachel laughs and finishes off her meal and dabs her lips lightly. Then looks around the table thoughtfully. Her own immediate family and she couldn't wait for her future where they could have breakfast every day. Noah squeezes her hand and she smiles brightly at him.

"I have to get going. Sarah wants to walk with me to the square today." Noah kisses her hand then Santana's temple. "I'll see you guys there."

Finnick sits back in his chair, not wanting to leave or think about getting ready for the Games. Santana stands up, saying she needs to get ready too. Rachel waves then looks back at Finnick. She bites her lip and smiles at him.

"Why are you staring at me like that? I know I'm better looking than Puck, but he put the ring on you first sweetheart."

Rachel giggles. "I see how you look at her you know."

He groans. "I don't look at her in any way."

"Why don't you just say something to her?"

"Because I can't do anything about it, even if I wanted to." The Capitol owned him. Since he was so attractive, he has to sleep with women who will pay top dollar when he goes there for the Games. He can't tell anyone, even if it kills him how much he wants to be with Santana.

Rachel stands up and brushes the few strands of hair away from his eyes. "Okay Finnick. I'll see you at the square. Mom's in the back so you don't have to lock up."

He smiles at her then watches her walk out. After a few minutes, he puts up all their dishes in the work area then heads back to his house. Finnick wouldn't see his stylist till after they get to the Capitol, so he stares into his closet to pick something for the Reaping. Deep down, he just has a bad feeling about the Games this year.

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><p>Noah slips on his dress shirt while slipping his tie around then pulls up his slacks. Walking out into the kitchen, Sarah wears a white dress swaying her feet while watching their mom. He smiles at her while fixing his tie, then kisses his mother on the cheek.<p>

"You look handsome Noah." His mom and sister say at the same time.

"Thank you ladies. Sarah are you ready to go?"

"Yes."

"You two be careful and I'll meet you there in a few minutes." His mother busily scrubs at the sink. He's not sure why she's cleaning right now but he shrugs it off.

"Okay mom. See you there."

Once they get to the square, Sarah goes off to the area where the kids of her age are after kissing Noah on the cheek. He walks over to a few guys he knows while looking around for Rachel. After quickly spotting her, she comes over to give him a quick kiss before returning to her area next to Santana. He notices that Finnick, Annie, Emma and an older Victor named Mags make their way to the stage near the mayor and a blonde that he's never seen before. He studies her, then to Finnick who shrugs, then to Santana who raises her eyebrow. Noah rolls his eyes and looks up to the stage.

The mayor stands up and starts to read about the history. He's not sure why they do this every year, as if the Hunger Games every year isn't a reminder enough about how the rebellion went wrong. It's the same script year after year. Everyone has it memorized. After he talks for awhile and introduces the blonde, Quinn Fabray, she makes her way to the podium which holds the bowls containing all the names. She seems a little too perky and he remembers who she reminds him of now. Rachel looks over and shakes her head then mouths 'I love you.' He smirks and mouths it back.

"Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!" Finnick stares at the blonde then coughs hard. The blonde looks at him with a concerned face but then concentrates back on the crowd. "Let's start with the ladies first."

Noah bites his lip, praying that Rachel and Santana are safe. Quinn moves her hand around the bowl then pulls out a name straightening it out, just like Effie does from what he's seen on TV, and smiles widely. "Scarlett Hudson." He lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding as a nervous girl who is two years younger than him walks up to the stage. He's seen her before, beautiful light brown hair with bright blue eyes, a few inches taller than Rachel.

"Any volunteers?" She looks around as everyone sits still. "Okay then, and now for the boys!" Quinn reaches her hand into the other bowl, not digging around as long, then straightens out another name. "Noah Puckerman."


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Glee or the Hunger Games.**

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><p>His stomach drops as his buddy Matt looks at him, Finnick stares straight at him, and he hears two gasps. He looks over to Rachel, who brought up her left hand to her mouth with tears building up. Santana has Rachel wrapped up in her arms while she shakes her head no. Off to the side he can see Sarah starting to cry along with his mother.<p>

"Noah?" Quinn looks around then smiles as she sees him making his way up to the stage. "Any volunteers?"

He stops in his tracks and turns around, glaring at any of his friends who might even be thinking of taking his place. When he sees that no one does anything, he nods to Quinn and takes his place next to Scarlett, who has a tear streaming down her face. The blonde tells them to shake hands then shortly after the Anthem plays, they're escorted to the Justice Building. He's seated in the nicest room he's seen in his entire life, even better than the rooms in Finnick's house. An hour is all he has to say his goodbyes. Rachel. He puts his face in his hands and lets out a groan.

"Noah?" Sarah's small voice enters the room.

He looks up and smirks a little. "Hey kid. C'mere." She runs up to him and hugs him tight. "Don't be a brat for mom alright?"

Despite the mood of the room, she giggles a little. "Noah, I'm an angel."

"Of course you are." He kisses her forehead and places her on her feet. "Mom, I love you. Can you make sure they let Rachel in last? She's the last person I want to see before…you know."

His mother smiles sadly and nods her head. "Take care of yourself, and make sure you come home for all of us."

"I will." He kisses her cheek and gives them both a big hug.

Matt and Santana enter the room. She immediately starts to tear up, which is rare to see from her. Noah is in shock. Matt shakes his hand and tells him to take care of himself. Santana shakes her head from side to side, then wraps him up in a big hug. He kisses her temple lightly.

"Santana…be there for her, when the Games are on. Please."

"I will. Get your ass back here, no ifs ands or buts."

"You know it." He hates saying this, because you never know with these games, but he'll fight like hell to get back.

They all look at each other before the Peacekeepers make them leave the room. He sits down and waits for Rachel to come in. He's trying so hard to keep his tears at bay. She walks into the room, a tear falling down her cheek. Noah holds his arms open and she sits in his lap hugging him close. A small sob comes out while he rubs her back. Rachel pulls away and puts a necklace on him. The chain is longer so it can easily hide in his shirt, but it's been passed down in her family, a small delicate gold star.

Noah raises his eyebrow, "Think it looks good on me baby?"

She laughs sadly. "Anything looks good on you. But it's to remind you to come home."

"I'm going to fight like hell to get back to you Rachel. I swear. I love you. So much. Take care of Sarah while I'm gone."

"I love you too. I'll see you in a few weeks."

A Peacekeeper comes in to take Rachel away. She stands and kisses him as lightly and passionately as she can. He wipes her tears away, then just like that, she's gone from the room. Possibly forever. After that, he's escorted to the train then his room. Everything is at his disposal and dinner is in an hour, but all he does is lay on his bed, running a finger over the gold star around his neck.

The door opens slightly, and Noah looks over at the door. Finnick smiles sadly and closes it then sits on the closest chair he can find. "I had this gut wrenching feeling before the drawing. Shitty that it turns out to be you."

Noah scoffs then swings his feet over to the floor so he's sitting and facing his friend. He scrubs his hand over his face then leans on his elbow, not knowing how to word anything. "You know what I'm going to say."

Finnick looks confused, furrowing his brows and staring at Noah. "What do you mean? I have no clue what you're going to say."

"About Rachel, Sarah, Santana. Shit!" He yells into the room and punches a pillow next to him. "All of them. If I can't fight my fucking way out of this, I'm depending on you, as my best friend, to take care of them. Make sure Sarah doesn't get into this situation."

"You know I would. But we still have time before the Games, not much, but we're going to get your ass into gear. Make you be the most prepared guy out there. You're coming home. No need for goodbyes right now. So get your ass up and we'll go eat. Take a shower first though, calm down a little. Plus they're kind of amazing." He shrugs and saunters out of the room.

Noah looks over to the bathroom then strips out of his clothes. He stares at all the buttons on the wall, deciding to just push on ones that don't seem to do much, relishing in the hot water that pours down over his body. Most of the showers he rarely gets to take are cold, but Finnick was right. It's not like District 4 is hurting as much as some other ones, but this is amazing. After using one of the fluffiest towels he has ever laid eyes on, he pulls on a pair of denim pants and a shirt. Then he puts on his boat shoes that he managed to wear for the Reapings. He rubs the gold star on the way to the dining room.

There's so much food on the table that he doesn't even know where to begin. Scarlett is eating, but she's sniffling while she does it. Her eyes are red and she changed out of her clothes into something similar to his. Emma is sitting next to her, eating small bites. Finnick points to something on the table, so Noah takes the hint that it's good. Quinn is multitasking between looking in a planner, eating and sneaking looks at both Finnick and I. He snorts then leans into Noah.

"Effie does the exact same thing from what I've seen. I'm amazed her hair isn't a different color."

"Are you always being stared at like this?" He moved around nervously. He's been with women before, but he certainly hasn't had anyone from outside of his district look at him like that before. A woman is a woman right? He shouldn't be nervous. Not badass.

Quinn smiles and looks over at them and smiles seductively. "We'll need to figure out your strategy for the interviews."

"Yes, we will. Are the stylists in the Capitol yet? I'm sure they'll want to prep as soon as possible." Emma looks over at Quinn, who is completely ignoring her. She rolls her eyes then looks from Scarlett to Noah. "Would you two like to train together or separately?"

Scarlett looks to Noah. "I don't really mind either way."

Finnick shrugs. "It's up to you guys. I don't see how it would hurt. But I think for the interview, we should make them show a strong allied front. It'll make the other tributes worry a little, especially the Careers. We won't call him Noah though, just Puck." Noah looked over at Finnick shocked. Everyone called him Puck, but only those close to him could call him Noah. It made sense, but he was wondering what Finnick was thinking of. "Puck sounds more intimidating. Unless you want to come across as a down to earth guy."

"Puck's fine. I trust you Finn, you know that."

Scarlett just looks at the two then started to cry. Both guys didn't like crying girls, it was like kryptonite. Emma bites her lip and rubs soothing circles onto the girls back. Quinn scoffed and went back to eating her salad. But with that, Scarlett just starts to cry harder then runs from the table.

"Get her back in the other room in fifteen minutes. They're going to show the Reapings and we can see what the competition looks like."

"Glad to see you got all the good genes from Effie." Finnick rolled his eyes and finished eating while Quinn glared.

Noah was starting to feel a little sick from all the rich food, but decided to go talk to Scarlett seeing how no one else was jumping up to get the girl. He walked down the hall to her room, lightly tapping on the door before opening it. Scarlett was sitting on the bed with her arms hugging her knees, twisting a bracelet around her wrist. He recognized it, usually made from fishing nets or the loose pieces woven together. Noah sits on the edge of her bed and looks at her.

"Congratulations on your engagement. I know how badly you must want to get home."

This wasn't going to be easy, knowing she'd have to die so he could go home to Rachel. "Thank you, and I do. But why are you crying?"

"I saw all the visitors you had. My own mother didn't even come. More money to save for her white liquor without me around." She twists her bracelet around some more. "My best friend, she gave me a look from the crowd and that was it. Finnick is going to work so hard to keep you alive. I'll be your ally and help you get home."

He took in a deep breath. "Scarlett, that's so much to ask. You have to f-"

They're interrupted when Finnick knocks and pokes his head in. "C'mon you two, Reapings to watch then time for bed. The stylists have a lot of work to do tomorrow." He looks them over. "Well not too much work."

Both of them nod, getting up from the bed to watch the other 22 Tributes who will want them dead.


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own Glee or The Hunger Games. Enjoy!**

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><p>The next morning Puck woke up to someone knocking on his door. He groaned and mumbled 'come in.' Quinn walks in looking at her planner, high heels clicking on the ground. Puck sits up with the sheet falling to his waist. He's rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. She stops walking and stares at him, her hazel eyes staring. He looks down and realizes that he doesn't have a shirt on.<p>

"Did you need something Quinn?"

"Oh yes." Her eyes snap back up to his. "We're going to be arriving at the Capitol in about an hour. From there you'll meet with your stylist in the Training Center."

Quinn takes one last glance at his torso, hums in agreement, then turns around to walk out the door. He's never felt so violated before. Puck walks over to the closet, grabbing pants and a shirt then walks out to the dining area. Emma and Scarlett are there, but Finnick isn't around.

"Good morning Puck. Did you sleep well?" Emma smiles at him and pops a grape into her mouth.

"Yeah, I guess." He grabs a plate and just starts piling anything that looks good onto it. "Where's Finnick?"

"He had some…business to attend to this morning. He'll see you at the Training Center after you have met with your prep team." Quinn sits down at the table and grabs fruit to load onto her plate.

Puck and Scarlett step into an elevator with Emma and Quinn to the fourth floor. District 4, fourth floor. Easy enough. It would be their home for the week until the Games begin. Emma pushes Scarlett towards her room while Quinn escorts Puck to his. It looks like she's about to say something, so he pushes into his room and closes the door before she could talk. That woman freaked him out.

"Oh, isn't he just handsome!" A short man with jet black hair, most likely dyed, and blue eyes but a few inches shorter than him bites his lip and looks him up and down. Puck doesn't like it.

"Yes. He must be one of the better looking tributes this year. We certainly got lucky." A girl with bright blue hair, looking slightly oriental with tan skin slightly lighter than his, and about the same height as the man checks him out as well. They both have a tattoo on the bottom of their forearm on the left wrist. He can't tell what it is though.

"Um, can I help you?" Puck eyes them wearily.

"I could think of a few ways." The man mumbles.

"Excuse him. We're part of your prep team. Once we get you ready, you can meet with Brittany." The girl says to him. She holds her hand out. "I'm Tina, this is Kurt. Now I'm going to get your shower set up then we'll go from there."

Puck just nods then goes to the bathroom where a few buttons have been pressed in. He's being scrubbed by a few different things, soap of some sort that stings a little and smells like lemons. Once he's done, he steps out then immediately gets dry by some elaborate system. Interesting. Puck pulls on a pair of boxers then steps out into the room.

Brittany ordered them to leave his stubble because she liked that he looked a bit rougher with it, but shaved his hair down to a buzz cut. His hands are cleaner and a little softer instead of being insanely calloused from fishing. Kurt found it amusing to get rid of any chest hair that was on Puck. His hands stayed balled up by his side while Kurt ripped it off with wax as Tina gave him a sympathetic look, occasionally glaring at Kurt for enjoying it so much. But when they were finally done, the two assistants grinned at him. After an hour of being helpless, Puck is finally able to look in the mirror. He honestly doesn't look too different, cleaner maybe. They hand him some denim pants and a shirt, much like he's been wearing the past few days and return his necklace to him.

"After you're done eating, Brittany will meet you back in here." Tina smiles and then leaves to their room.

Puck nods at them and goes out to the dining room. Only Quinn and Emma are there. He does a pretty good job at ignoring Quinn and her stares. Emma doesn't talk much, as if she's thinking about home or how she's going to prepare them for the Games. He doesn't question it. It's quiet and he doesn't really mind it.

He pushes his plate away and looks over at Emma. "Where's Scarlett?"

"It takes the girls slightly longer to get prepped than you dear." She smiles. "In fact, I'm going to go check on how things are going."

Puck finishes up his drink then goes back to his room to find a blonde with a low pony tail sitting on his bed looking at a spot on the ceiling. He glances up and sees nothing. Then he glances at the girl again, she's either his age or a bit older. Bright blue eyes, wearing an outfit much like his but with a black top with a little cut out above her breasts and black leather boots. The same tattoo on her left wrist like her team. It looks like three delicate flowers in a row.

Brittany bites her lip, still staring up at the spot then looks over. "When did you get here?"

"Just now. What are you looking at?"

"Huh?"

Puck looks at her and ignores her question, sitting down next to her. Brittany turns so she's facing him and sits with her legs crossed. "Okay, so I think I know how I'm going to dress you for the ceremony tonight." She smiles innocently at him.

"Um, okay. Can you tell me?"

"There were people way way way back before the Rebellion called Greek Gods. You look a lot like one, so I think it would be a great idea. There was one that ruled the sea and he carried a giant fork around. It'd be fitting since you're from District 4."

"A fork? Where did you see this exactly?"

"In a book. Somewhere… Lord Tubbington showed me." She stares at his necklace and tilts her head.

"Who is Lord Tubbington?"

"My cat." She looks at him like he should know this already.

"So what would I be wearing for the ceremony?" He felt like he was talking to Sarah. Pulling teeth to get answers.

"In the picture that I saw, he wore a tunic around his waist. I won't make you carry the fork though. That would look silly."

"You want me to wear a skirt?"

"It's a costume." She runs a finger along his forearm. "White will look lovely against your skin." Brittany claps her hands together. "I'm so excited. You'll look amazing. Just trust me."

"You're the stylist, so I guess I have to trust you."

"I know this must be really hard, but Finnick told me that he's going to work really hard to get you home."

"You know Finnick?"

"Finnick and I are really close. We talked on the phone last night. I've been his stylist the past four years. He was my first client in a way. We find comfort in each other during the Games."

Noah raises his eyebrows and stares at her, shocked. "Are you…" He shakes his head. "Are you the reason why he can't be with anyone?"

She tilts her head back and laughs, her hands landing on her stomach. "No, but it's not my place to say why he can't. He's more like a brother to me. I'm an only child."

"You're so young, you can't be much older than us to be his stylist."

"Oh, I'm 21. I was on his original prep team. My mom, Quinn's aunt, was his stylist. He only trusts my mom or me to get him ready." She smiles and bites her lip. "But don't worry. I can see us being close as well. And you know Finnick, once he's determined, he really works hard."

He frowns. "I don't think I've really seen that side of him. I mean we've gone fishing and other stuff, but he always just seemed to be more relaxed."

"You'll see it now though. C'mon, let's grab a snack. I haven't seen Scarlett yet. I'm curious to see how Cinna made her look."

They both stand and he rubs his hands over the denim covering his thighs, then holds the door open for her. Once they enter the room, Brittany squeals and runs to hug Scarlett. The girl tenses and looks at her stylist. Cinna grins and resumes eating his soup.

"She looks absolutely amazing! Your costume is going to look so beautiful on her." Brittany plays with a curl in Scarlett's hair. The girl looks at Puck with worried eyes then goes back to eating. "Did you end up picking—"

"Don't! I want it to be a surprise." Cinna stares at Brittany before she shrugs and starts to pick pieces of fruit off Finnick's plate.

Puck looks at Cinna then goes back to drinking his water. Finnick elbows him in the ribs. "What do you think of Brittany?"

"She's…" He hesitates. "Cool."

"She's my stylist too, but I'm sure she told you that. And she is cute as hell." Finnick tugs on Brittany's pony tail and smiles at her.

Emma giggles slightly while Quinn scoffs. "She's not cute, she's annoying and not very bright."

Brittany is staring at a piece of kiwi that is sitting on Finnick's plate, deciding if she wants to eat it or not. Emma decides that she isn't paying to the conversation so she turns towards Quinn. "What do you mean she's annoying? She's a very sweet girl and a terrific stylist." The two men look at her in amusement.

"She's my cousin. I know firsthand that she's annoying."

Emma scoffs. "That doesn't give you any right to talk about your family in such a way. You are so lucky you don't have to be in a position like our families were in. Or in the place that your Tributes families are right now." She gets up and walks out of the room. Quinn's jaw is dropped.

"Are you just jealous that Brittany got the better genes from the family?" Finnick laughs and goes back to his food.

Scarlett just looks between everyone and sighs. "When do we need to get ready for the ceremony? I'd like to take a nap beforehand. My skin still hurts."

"Go ahead and take a nap. Miss Fabray here will wake you up when it's time." Finnick smiles lightly at Scarlett before she excuses herself.

Puck is standing next to a carriage staring at the horses then over at other Tributes that are walking around. No one is really talking to each other, but he knows some of the costumes are just about as ridiculous as his. Finnick walks up to him, wearing a suit with no tie and smirks at the costume.

"This looks ridiculous. I'm wearing a sheet."

He laughs. "It could be worse." Finnick looks over at District 11, both of the Tributes are dressed in leaves with berries that are strategically placed.

"Yeah, I guess. Where's Scarlett?"

Puck notices people turning their heads towards a girl who is walking towards their carriage. When him and Finnick look over, Scarlett is walking in gold high heels with straps going up her legs, olive leaves that form a halo in her hair and a red wine colored dress. One strap going up one shoulder the other bare, with the bottom of the dress stopping mid thigh. Finnick lets out a low whistle.

"I can't believe this is so short." She pulls at the material and looks at them nervously. Emma walks up behind her wearing a short sleeved dress and her red hair in a curly mess on top of her head.

"You look beautiful Scarlett. Just smile, they'll love you." Emma kisses her cheek and puts her arm around Scarlett's shoulder.

Brittany bounces up next to Finnick and wraps her hands around his waist. "Oh Cinna did a great job with you."

"It must be easier to dress a girl for the Games." Puck mumbles and leans against the chariot.

"Oh don't worry Puck. You'll look amazing for your interview."

Quinn walks up and claps her hands together. "Up into the chariot. It's time to go." She smiles at them and leads the stylists, Emma and Finnick off to a different area.

"Let's get this over with." Puck holds his hand out to Scarlett and helps her up.


	6. Chapter 6

**I do not own Glee or The Hunger Games**

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><p>He's sitting in the hovercraft waiting to go to the arena, rubbing his arm where his tracker was just injected. Now they would be able to find him anywhere in the Arena. Thinking through the past few days, he can't believe he's even gotten here. Brittany must have looked over at him and saw how distressed he was looking. He feels her warm hand grip his lightly. Could it have really only been about a week since he's seen Rachel and Sarah? Saying goodbye in the Justice Building.<p>

Nothing exciting happened after the opening ceremony. He ate. He tried to sleep as much as he could. Then they went to training for three days where they focused on learning all they could. Him and Scarlett would walk around learning about edible plants, which he was actually good at, to camouflaging themselves and building shelters. Scarlett excelled at the camouflaging part where as he couldn't really get anything done. Both of them knew how to tie knots pretty well so then they focused on weapons. Scarlett did well with the bow and arrows while he was good with knives and a spear. They showcased those talents to the Gamemakers, scoring Scarlett a 9, himself a 10.

During the interviews the night before the Games, Scarlett acted like the girl next door. Cinna dressed her in a strapless, backless, floor length gown that shined like a pearl, light brown curly hair falling down her back. The men in the crowd were falling in love with her instantly. Brittany dressed him in a navy blue tux and white shirt with a few buttons open to reveal part of his chest. Puck just pulled out his arrogant attitude that he had before he started to date Rachel after his dad died. All the girls were screaming, wanting more of his smirk. As long as it won him sponsors to get back to Rachel, he didn't care about flirting with the crowd. The rest of the interviews were boring, in his opinion. Many of the Careers were talking about how excited they were to get into the Arena and their love of the Capitol. Others were shy and didn't say much of anything.

After the interviews, Puck sat on his bed, his jacket laying on the floor and his shirt open, staring at the star in his palm. Finnick came to his room after he took care of whatever business he had. Puck felt tired, but once he saw his best friend, he knew that he didn't feel like shit after all.

"You look rough." He mumbles.

Finnick laughs tiredly, shrugging off his jacket. His shirt is unbuttoned half way down, red marks covering his chest. Puck knows better than to ask about those. "Rough doesn't even start to explain it."

"Are you ever going to tell me what's going on when you come up here?"

"When you get back from the Arena, I'll tell you." Finnick rubs the back of his neck, wincing when he touches a big red spot that only Puck can see. Maybe he doesn't want to know after all.

"Can't believe this week went by so fast." He grips the star in his palm then goes to fasten it back around his neck. "I think this is time for our goodbye talk."

Finnick looks at him and sighs. "Alright. What's on your mind?"

"If or when…I die. I need you to take care of my mom and Sarah. They won't make it by without my job. Sarah absolutely cannot sign up for tesserae. Ever. Look after Santana. But especially take care of Rachel."

He nods then runs his hand down his face then running his hand through his bronzed locks tiredly. "I promise. But fuck man, give me some credit. I've been through this too you know. I know that you're going to make it. At least to the final four. I saw you train and I'm going to get you as many fucking sponsors as I can. Just remember what you're fighting for."

"Yeah, I know."

"Okay. I'm not going to sit here and have any more girl talk with you. I can't afford to grow a vagina. People love this beautiful body and face way too much." They both laugh. They spend way too much time together. Both of them are too arrogant for their own good. "I need to get some sleep so I can help you get whatever you need in the Arena. I'll only say this once. I love you man. I'll see you in a few weeks."

"Right. I love ya too. I'll see you after." Puck takes one last look at his best friend, wondering if he'll ever see him again.

Finnick gets up to leave the room, his jacket thrown over the back of his shoulder. He takes one last look at Puck and smirks. Once he's gone, Puck lays back on his bed, willing his mind to shut up and get some sleep. Will he actually be able to get to the final four? Finnick has so much faith in him, it's scary. _Remember what you're fighting for._ The words bounce around in his mind. It's going to be hard to get a decent night of rest after this.

Now here he was. The day of the Hunger Games but he didn't feel prepared. Even though Finnick said he was. Brittany stands in front of Puck next to the glass cylinder that will take him up into the arena. When did he even get here? Or get off the hovercraft. He's already losing his mind. He's trying not to be nervous but adrenaline to get this over with is starting to take over his body. Brittany brushes off invisible dust off his blue suit, which looks more ridiculous than what she put him in the arena. It clings to places he shouldn't even have fabric. And a stupid purple belt. Really, who designed these things? He knows it wasn't his stylist. She lets out a little sigh. Puck raises an eyebrow at her.

"We've gotten close, right?" He blinks at her, not knowing what she means. "I mean, we're friends." She looks up at him with her blue eyes. She's wearing denim pants and boots again, he wishes he could be wearing the pants he's been wearing all week in the dining room, with a green tank top and white jacket. A classic pony tail high on her head.

"Of course."

"Okay." She sniffs a little. "Remember, you have something worth fighting for. Rachel mostly. Think about her once here, then don't let her cross your mind up there. Don't get distracted. But remember everything Finnick told you. Find Scarlett and stick together."

"Thanks Britt." He hugs her for a minute then releases her. Looking at the cylinder he sighs. He takes a long pull from the glass of water he has then hands it back to Brittany.

"Oh, one more thing."

He turns around and furrow his brows at her. She pulls out his necklace, gives it a kiss then holds it to his mouth for him to do the same. Once he does, she tucks it back into his suit. "I'll see you when this is all over." She smiles, kisses his cheek and walks away from him, standing near the door.

Puck gets into the cylinder and the glass encases him. He looks at Brittany one last time and she gives him a thumbs up and wipes away a tear. He smirks at her, then he's raised up to the arena. 60 seconds is all he has to get his mind focused. Looking around, he instantly notices water. This is a fucking great thing for him and Scarlett. He spots her a few people down from him. She nods at him and looks away, probably to focus on what is about to happen once they're released. Puck takes a second to close his eyes and think 'I love you Rachel' before he can go to the solid gold Cornucopia that houses all the weapons, food, water and anything else they could possibly need. It's not too far from him.

A loud voice surrounds him. "Let the 74th Hunger Games begin!"


	7. Chapter 7

**I do not own Glee or The Hunger Games**

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><p>The second he's released, Puck runs to the solid gold Cornucopia as fast as he possibly can. The run not even making him tired. He's not sure how he managed to beat everyone there, actually mostly the Careers, but he doesn't care. While grabbing a backpack that weighs at least ten pounds, he spots a smaller one for Scarlett. Swiping four knives, two spears, bow and arrows for Scarlett and looks around for anything else. She finally stands next to him, panting a little bit, and he thrusts the things he grabbed for her into her hands.<p>

"Anything else you can see that we could use?" She's looking on one side. "There's only weapons over here."

He instantly sees two decent sized nets so he throws those over his shoulder then grabs an ax next to them. "Shit." He mumbles to himself as he spots two Tributes coming towards them. "Scarlett, can you take out those two people coming in?"

Scarlett plucks out an arrow and quickly shoots it through the guys heart, then another one through the other guy right next to him. A canon fires off. Puck is surprised at how she did that so easily, but these are the Games. No time to focus on taking lives. He spots another set of arrows, so he puts those on his shoulder, not really seeing much else that could be of use to them. Puck nods at Scarlett and they run off towards the woods. No one else has even gotten this far, some are scared to go into the water. He takes advantage of this and leads Scarlett towards the beach. On the way, he picks up a few palm tree fronds and throw those over his shoulder too. Never know when it could be handy.

"I think we should stop somewhere a little further up, set up some traps then make a little shelter. Anyone who comes in this direction we can take out."

She looks back to the beach and the bloodbath that is going on. There are screams from the girls and she swallows hard. "Yeah, sure."

"If you want to set up the shelter, I can work on the traps."

Scarlett nods, looking at all the things he managed to carry and sets off towards some trees. She takes his backpack along with her and one of the nets. Puck makes quick work, tearing the net carefully into two so I can set up traps that will either catch an animal which can be used for food or it'll grab anyone who walks by it. He's proud that he did it all so fast since it was harder in training. Guess since he's going to rely on them, it's important. Throwing some leaves and debris on it, he turns to look for Scarlett, only to find she seems to have completely disappear.

_She better not have taken my stuff and just left. I'll look like the biggest dumbass of these Games. _He groans and lets out an aggravated huff.

Puck's neck snaps to the left as he hears a twig breaking not too far away from him. Someone isn't being too careful out here. Quickly, he looks around, squinting to see if he can see anything that looks out of place. Nothing. He's starting to get pissed off then he sees something reflecting so he walks towards it. Once he spots Scarlett smirking, he shakes his head and steps into the shelter.

"You did a hell of a job with this thing." Puck is impressed with her. He looks up, noticing she has the net hanging on two branches with the fronds over that then leaves from the trees on top of it. They're sitting in between two bushes that she cut the middle out of but put them in front and hanging off the net to blend in. She made it to where they're facing the traps and the beach, so if anyone is coming towards them, they'll be taken out easily. "I knew you'd be good at this, I mean you got the hang of it in training. Shit, it's even roomy in here." He stretches out slightly just to see how much room there is. Puck could easily lay down he wanted, considering he was half a foot taller than Scarlett. "We might be able to sleep till tomorrow and go from there."

She blushes and mumbles out a thanks. "Want to look through the packs?"

Puck nods then opens his. Dried fruit, fishing wire, a bottle of water, dried meat, another knife, a thin sleeping bag, a small first aid kit and a pack of crackers. "It seemed heavier when I picked it up."

Scarlett opens up hers and also finds a pack of crackers, dried fruit and meat, a coil of wire, a box of matches, a pair of sunglasses and a light jacket. "We'll have stuff to last us a little bit, but we should probably use it for emergencies."

He nods. They hear another twig break, but no sign of anyone again but it's closer this time. They put everything back into their backs and put them behind a bush, waiting for this person to show up. Scarlett nudges him after a few seconds and they notice a patch of red and blonde hair show up. District 8. A scream echoes through the forest, and the girl is raised up by the net. The guy rushes over and tries to free her. Scarlett quickly sets her bow and sends an arrow straight through her heart. The boy jumps back looking around then again when the cannon goes off. He tries to get her weapon and pack off her back quickly before the hovercraft arrives.

Puck knows that he has to kill to get further into the Games, so he quietly moves out of their shelter, knowing he wants this to be painless. He swiftly throws the spear, going right through his spine. The cannon goes off. Puck quickly grabs their weapons, backpack, and the arrows out of their bodies then cuts down the red head but quickly sets up the traps again. Once he's back in the shelter, a hovercraft appears and grabs the two bodies.

"It's getting dark, should we start a fire?"

"Are you insane?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean Puck?" She looks pissed off and ready to shove a knife into his throat at any second if he says the wrong thing right now.

He shakes his head. "It might give us away." Scarlett looks embarrassed and drops her shoulders. "See if there's anything useful in their backpack." He examines the blade of the machete the boy was carrying.

"Hey, they have a flashlight, another pair of sunglasses, fishing hooks, an empty water bottle and crackers."

Puck looks over at the backpack and smirks. "We should split them up into our packs and ditch that somewhere. Use it as bait or something."

"Bait?" She stares at him like he's grown another arm.

"Yeah, I'm sure there are other people who didn't get anything trying to get the fuck away from the Cornucopia."

Scarlett nods slowly and hands him the glasses and fishing hooks, putting the rest into her pack. "Tomorrow we should look for a water. Then look around for some other Tributes. Fresh food."

"Yeah, sounds good. Try to get some sleep. I'll keep watch for awhile."

She smiles. "Wake me up when the Anthem starts to play. Or if something happens."

He looks out the opening and remembers what Brittany said to him. Don't think of…_her_ and remember what Finnick told him. Finnick…what would he think of this set up right now? Would he think it's smart? He sighs and stares back at the trees. Don't get distracted. Easier said than done.

Hours later, the Anthem starts to play with the Capitol seal in the sky. Puck pokes her ribs to wake her up. He looks at Scarlett, then peeks up into the sky along with her. The tributes from District 3 appear in the sky, then the ones from 5 and 6. Then the two that they killed, the blonde and red head, also the ones from 9. The sky turns dark again and they back up against the tree trunk, keeping their ears open. He wonders if a lot of the Districts ended up staying together or if the water really just didn't work well with them. After a few minutes, Scarlett pulls out her water and dried fruit, sharing it with Puck.

"Look over there," She nods towards the opening, "Lightning. Do you think it'll rain?"

"I doubt it. No thunder, but even if it does, we have this shelter you built." He pauses to chew, not wanting to be completely disgusting and talking with his mouth full. His mother would kill him when he gets home if she caught him doing that on TV. "What kind of fruit is this?" He stares at the wrinkled piece in his hand and wrinkles his nose.

"I don't know. I'm just eating it because I'm hungry." She chews another piece. "I miss the Capitol food."

Puck chuckles and just shoves the whole piece in his mouth. "We'll have to really think about the edible plants table from training when we head out tomorrow."

Scarlett hums in agreement, then looks over at Puck or what she can see of him. "Get some sleep, I'll keep a watch out."

"Wake me if anything happens."

She nods and puts on her glasses, which they figured out were to see in the dark instead of actual sunglasses. While he sits back against the tree trunk, she hums to herself but not loud enough to give them away.

Puck looks peaceful sleeping for someone who said he wants to use the backpack as bait. Scarlett lets out a huff, jealous that he has so much to look forward to. She could just kill him in his sleep, get rid of him and hide in a tree until everyone kills each other off and go home. She mentally slaps herself for thinking that, reminding herself of what's waiting for her at home, nothing. It's easier to just help him get back to District 4. She's seen him and Rachel near her house and then again around town. Every now and then she would see them holding hands at school or his arm thrown around her shoulders. From what she understood, he would go to work on the docks early, go to class then be excused the rest of the day after lunch to go back to work on the boat. Sometimes he would even pick her up after her classes.

She's actually jealous of Rachel. Puck mostly changed his personality when he decided to be with Rachel, going back to the guy he was before his father died. Scarlett saw him flirting first hand when he made a move on her best friend. The next day her best friend was talking about how good he was physically. No one was ever interested in her. She was even jealous of Santana. The girl had beautiful skin and a body that every girl in their area wanted. Girls at school would whisper about her.

She lets out a sigh. It won't matter anyways, she's in the Hunger Games. She'll die before she gets to go back home. In a wooden box.

Another burst of lightning lights up the sky. It seems bigger than the rest, but she ignores it. In a few seconds it starts to rain but the lightning stops. She looks out, seeing if the traps are okay. No food in them and definitely no bodies. She lightly pushes on Puck, hearing him grunt in return. Once he opens his eyes, she makes him put on his glasses and look outside.

"Rain. Great." He pulls out the empty water bottle and holds it out, waiting until it's about halfway full. Then he grabs the flashlight to shine on it to see if it's drinkable.

Scarlett watches as he shines the light on it, she sees that the water is dark. Pulling off her glasses, she looks at it a little more, but gags. "Puck…" He looks over at her confused. "I think that's blood."

Puck takes off his glasses and looks at it closely. "Shit, that's nasty. Why is it raining blood?"

She whimpers and looks away from him. "Please just pour that out or something. It's disgusting."

He pours it out, then sticks it in the backpack. "We're going to need to find water now. Especially to clean that out." He spits out in disgust. "I wonder if the sponsors can send a map of the fucking place." He sits back against the tree trunk and cross his ankles. His glasses are back on as he stares out into the rain.

"Finnick is probably laughing at us right now, wondering what the hell we're doing under a tree."

He huffs. "At least we're dry. Everyone else might be laying on the ground or stuck up in a tree." Puck looks around, seeing a Y shaped twig. He thinks back to a previous Hunger Games, when someone made a slingshot. It didn't work in their favor, but he thinks of everything they have here. The branch looks like it could be stable enough. Instantly, he pulls out the wire and the jacket.

"What are you doing?"

"Remember the year after Finnick won, or maybe it was before that…" He thinks about it but then rolls his eyes, "how someone made a slingshot? We should have things here to make one. See if you can find anything elastic on that jacket."

"Um, okay." She searches, but nothing elastic really presents itself. Then she remembers that Cinna put her hair up with something like a rubber band. She pulls it out.

"Don't you want your hair up?" Puck looks at her while pausing from stripping off the bark on the branch.

"Well this band in my hair is elastic. I'll just use some of the fishing line to tie it back up." She shrugs.

"Oh, thanks. Put the jacket on, you look cold." He starts to assemble it then grabs a rock nearby to test it out. Puck manages to break a branch with it.

"That's great. We could probably hide in trees or something. You can use that then I can use the arrows too."

Puck stares at her in the dark with his eyebrows raised. "That's a great idea."

"Thanks." She starts rubbing different shapes into the dirt while Puck grabs any rocks he sees around them. "What do you think the Careers are doing?"

Scarlett is still looking down when he glances at her. She already looks like she's given up and it's only the first day. "Honestly? Probably out hunting. Don't they train for this or some shit?"

"Do you always cuss this much?"

"You sound like Rachel." He smirks and then frowns at bringing her up. "Don't like it?"

"It's not that. I just don't think I've heard someone say half of those words, ever."

"Get used to it." He nudges her then goes back to collecting rocks. "So who is waiting for you at home? Any lucky guy?"

She blushes, embarrassed that she doesn't, but he can't see it. "Nope."

He pauses. "Well why the hell not?"

Letting out a un ladylike snort, "Not everyone can get anyone like you Puck."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I can't just go get whoever I want, unlike you." She sighs.

"The fuck? Yeah you can."

"Whatever Puck."

He groans and turns towards her, his knee moving into her space while he brings the other up to lean his elbow against it. "Bullshit. You're pretty. Didn't you see yourself when they showed the opening ceremony and interview on TV? Those guys were drooling over you. I'm pretty sure at one point or another, each one of the guy Tributes wanted to fuck you." He usually hates talking to girls like this, but if she's going to be his companion for however long they're in this Arena, he won't have her being all insecure.

"Please, it would've been one last fuck before they come into this place." She moves her hand around in the air then rolls her eyes.

He chuckles. "The lady says fuck." He moves back to how he was sitting before.

She rolls her eyes and sits the way he is. The rain is coming down harder and she can't believe that Puck said she was pretty. She blushes and smiles. In her mind she's happy, but she knows that this won't mean anything after the Games are up.

"You better hope they aren't showing the two of us on TV." She says after a few minutes.

He doesn't move. "Why?"

"Rachel would probably be really mad that you called me pretty."

This makes him look back at her. "I'm pretty sure they won't. They'll probably be showing something more entertaining than us talking about something lame. Plus she's a midget and she couldn't hurt me even if she tried to punch the shit out of me for saying that." He winks at her.

She smiles at him and they both keep a look out for anyone who might be walking by. Shortly after they quit talking, the rain stops. The two take turns keeping watch throughout the night, trying to get some sleep before things start to heat up again tomorrow.


	8. Chapter 8

**I do not own Glee or The Hunger Games. **

**I'd also like to thank everyone who has alerted this story and reviewed. It makes my day whenever I see them. Thank you so much! It's given me the courage to continue this story :)  
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><p>Puck and Scarlett walked around for a few hours, still finding no sign of any fresh water. In fact, they didn't find much along the lines of food either, just a few nuts that Puck remembered were safe from training. Scarlett looks at the water they have left, half a bottle. Puck was getting frustrated and she could tell. She wonders what she could possibly say that could make this situation better, but it's impossible.<p>

"Maybe we should go back to the beach." She shrugs. "There has to be fish in the water since they provided fishing hooks. And nets. We would at least get some food out of it."

"Sure. Let's set up by that tree over there." He nods to a place a few feet away from them. " It's close enough to the beach where we won't be targeting ourselves."

Scarlett nods. They slowly make the way to the location that Puck points out. It's by a big tree, twice the size than the tree that they had picked out the night before. She climbs up a bit in the tree to a spot where two branches are close together that's big enough to fit them both. Puck passes up the net so she can make shelter like the night before. When he sees that she'll be alright he makes quick work setting up the traps and camouflaging them. Before he knows it, he's up in the tree looking around for any visible signs of water or any other tributes. Despite the failed attempt at finding food and water this morning, he's feeling they got something accomplished.

"I can't believe there's no water. It only makes sense since we haven't seen any animals either." Scarlett bends her knees and sets her head down on them. Her head is starting to hurt.

Puck rubs his hands together, even though they're not cold and turns to face her. "Alright Scar, we need to figure something out. And it's obvious Emma and Finnick don't want to be any help right now." He rolls his eyes, not caring if there's any cameras around watching them. Though Finnick probably wants to kick his ass right now. "Maybe we should try walking around. We know where the shelter is and you did a good job hiding it."

"Sure." She grabs her knife and bow, jumping out of the tree and landing on her feet.

Puck climbs down the tree, knowing if he jumped down there would be a lot more noise and might attract someone to their location. They're walking a few feet from their shelter when he hears a horrible high pitched scream. They turn in the direction they hear it, but it gets eerily quiet. Then a bunch of yelling comes, the high pitched one accompanied by ones that a guy would make, but it's going in the direction towards the beach. They look at each other and run towards the sand then look to the left. Marvel, Cato and Clove appear to be running from something.

"The Careers are running from something?" She asks shocked.

"What the fuck are those?" Puck stares down the beach.

"They look like monkeys or something. I saw them in a book." She looks around then closer at the group who are standing in the water. "Where's Glimmer?"

Puck squints and sees the monkeys, only they're about the size of the girl from District 2, Clove, tearing something apart with blonde hair. "Oh shit, I think they're tearing at her. Must be mutts."

He remembers that the Capitol will take animals and mutate them to make evil creatures. Most of the time, they could turn something that would normally leave you alone in the wilderness, would come and attack in the arena. One year, a flock of pink birds killed off two tributes. It was brutal to watch, their beaks breaking into their skin. But sometimes, they just made animals that were like nothing they've ever seen before.

Scarlett gags, apparently not having a very strong stomach. "We either need to go kill them or get the hell out of here."

"I vote on getting out of here. They're Careers and outnumber us."

About an hour later, after circling their shelter looking for food, the two of them give up and go to sit back up on the branches. "Do you think Emma and Finnick just," Her voice trails off and she lets out a frustrated breath. "Forgot about us?"

Puck looks at her, wondering the exact same thing. "I don't know. But we need to figure out how to get water soon." He stares at their water bottle and sighs.

They're staring out into the woods when a little silver parachute falls past them. Scarlett almost falls out of the tree reaching for it. Puck grabs her hips and pulls her back in, the shiny fabric barely caught between her fingertips. She pulls it out and looks at it. Something from the sponsors. She grins excitedly and bounces a little then takes a good look at it. A silver tube with one end that opens slightly. She stares at it then at Puck confused.

"Glad to know they're watching but what are we supposed to do with this?"

He glares up at the sky. "Really Finnick?" He groans and plucks it out of her fingers to look at it. But then he hears hushed voices talking together. He looks over at Scarlett, puts the tube down and looks down. A girl and boy with dark hair and grey eyes, probably about fifteen and seventeen are walking by. Without thinking of a full plan of attack, Puck grabs his axe then jumps down, startling them.

The girl falls back on her ass and the boy stands in front of her, putting his hands up in defense. "Don't, please." She begs.

Puck stares at them skeptically. "Why shouldn't I?"

They're both quiet as Scarlett comes down. The girl bites her lip and looks up at her partner. "We could be of help maybe?"

Puck scoffs and rolls his eyes. "How could you possibly help?"

The boy pulls the girl up and clears his throat. "Well, we know who else is still alive for starters."

"Mason, just tell them." Her hand is clutching his tightly. Puck can see that her knuckles are turning white. Poor guy.

"Tell us what?" Scarlett looks between the two and lowers her weapon.

"We figured out the arena." Mason looks at them then nods up to their shelter, only knowing where it was when Scarlett came down. "Can we all fit up there? It's better to tell you if we know that no one can surprise us and kill us all."

They nod then all climb the tree. It's a little tight, but it works.

"So tell us what you know. Let's start with who is still alive." Puck mumbles while Scarlett tries to get comfortable next to him. He looks over at Mason and Cara, he finally learned her name. He's leaning against the tree and she sits between his legs, her back against his chest. Puck sighs and pulls Scarlett to do the same, even though he knows Rachel would kill him if she sees this on the TV. And knowing the Gamemakers, this is most likely being showed since they'll be talking about important information.

"Okay, well Michael and Caroline from 7 are still alive. But they separated at the Cornucopia. We don't know what they have along the lines of weapons. We saw Caroline a few hours ago. Also the Career pack, they were headed towards the beach."

"Glimmer is dead. We saw her being attacked by mutts. Monkeys we think. Well muttations." Scarlett looks over at Cara.

"That must be what 3-4 must be." Mason pulls out a leaf from his pocket and makes a mark with his knife.

"What do you mean?"

Mason rubs his hand over his face, wondering how to explain it. "The arena is a clock. Each section does something different. But only during the designated hours."

"That would explain why it rained blood last night but stopped after about an hour's worth." Scarlett looks at Puck then over to the District 12 pair.

Cara pulls the leaf out of Mason's hand and looks at the divided sections they made. "What time would you say that happened?"

"Well the Anthem played, but after that it was lightning. So I guess if what you're saying is right, it'd have been an hour after that. But we moved our shelter since then."

Cara nods and looks at her list. "If it was after the Anthem, I'm going to assume that was around midnight. So the blood rain must have been from were in section of the forest and some weird fog came around. We got blisters, but once we got to the ocean they went away. Our skin is still kind of raw though." She looks down at her skin.

Puck noticed that they were fully wearing their suits and that their skin is pink and healing. "What happened?"

Mason looks over at Puck. "The fog made our skin blister and everything burned. When we breathed it in, burned. Once we got to the ocean, we jumped in. At first it hurt but it slowly pulled the poison out."

"You didn't tell him the worst part." Cara says quietly.

"Once the poison settled in and we were running, it was like our muscles were dying." He shrugs.

"The left side of Mason's face was sagging. It was awful." She backs into Mason a little more and puts her chin on her knees the best she can while still balancing on the branch.

"Did your Sponsors send anything for it?" Puck asked after a few minutes of silence.

"No. Haymitch is probably too drunk to care about us."

"You never know. Since we're all together and you guys made it this far, he might try a little bit." Scarlett shrugged then looked at Puck looking for some backup.

"Yeah, I mean now that we know about each other and all that, it's probably smart to stick together." He shrugged as well.

"How do you know that the sections don't change as the days go on? Or where 12 starts on the clock?" Scarlett suddenly asked as if she was thinking about it while they were talking about the blisters.

"We don't. Just assumed that 12 would start at the Cornucopia." Cara shrugs.

"Did you guys find any fresh water?" Puck interrupts, not really caring about 12 starts in the arena. Water is more important to him at the moment.

"No. We don't know where we're supposed to get water. Definitely not from the ocean." Mason grunted and shifted a little which made Cara grasp the branch underneath her. He mumbles out an apology and pulls her back to his chest.

"Finnick sent us this tube, but we don't know what we're supposed to do with it." Puck tosses it to Mason who turns it over in his hands a few time.

Cara snatches it out of his hand and lets out a small giggle. "I've seen these before. It was used to get sap or something out of a tree. A spile, is what it was called. I think."

She takes it and turns around so she's straddling the branch, but moves past Mason. He looks uncomfortable but leaves her to whatever she's going to do and grips her hips to steady her. She takes her knife, then puts the tube in one of Mason's hands. She's inserting the knife, twisting it into a makeshift drill. Once she's in a few inches she pulls it out and inserts the tube. After a few seconds water comes out.

"Holy shit. Everyone grab their bottles and fill it up." Puck grabs his bottle and hands it to Cara who starts to fill them all up. After he takes a sip of his water, he pulls out the bloodied container and rinses it out.

"Looks like it's a good thing we all met up." Mason pulls out what little dried fruit they have left and split it between himself and Cara. He nods over at Puck. "What weapons do you have?"

"Well you've seen the ax along with the bow and arrows. We also have knives, spears and a machete. What do you guys have."

Cara holds out her knife. "This is all we really have. We avoided the Cornucopia. Made a quick getaway while they were attacking each other. This skimmed my leg, but Mason grabbed it."

Puck nods and hands Cara the machete then a spear for Mason. "That should work. Plus it's less for us to carry."

Mason and Cara look at him oddly.

"Don't mind him, he can be an asshole." Scarlett looks at Cara noticing that the girl is blushing then smiles.

"We'll need to find more food. We don't have much. You guys can get some rest if you want, Scar and I will keep watch for now. In the morning we can try to figure out what to do."

They nod in agreement, but then a canon fires. Scarlett looks out and sees a hovercraft carrying four bodies. She lets out a soft sigh. "Four bodies. Must have been 10 and 11 together. Or maybe Michael and Caroline met up again. Getting together with the Careers possibly."

"Doesn't matter. Whoever is on watch when the Anthem plays will see. For now, let's just concentrate on what we've decided already." Mason looks at everyone and nods, then leans back the best he can without falling off. Cara leans against his chest and closes her eyes too.

When they hear the soft snores coming from Mason, Puck nudges Scarlett and whispers in her ear. "You think they like each other or they're just that comfortable."

She shrugs and looks back out of the opening. "We're lying the same way and I know for a fact that you don't like me or that comfortable with me. It's just easier."

"Someone's feisty today." He chuckles and she can feel it vibrating against her. Scarlett moves away from him and continues to look outside at the trees.

Puck knows that he just upset her, so he closes his eyes and sees Rachel smiling brightly at him. He just wants Rachel in his arms, sleeping the way Mason and Cara are.

"We need to set this camp up on the ground tomorrow. I can't sleep in a tree like this." Scarlett agrees and puts on her glasses, ready for the night to come.

The next morning, they're all rested and looking out into the trees looking any type of wildlife they could kill and eat. Puck groans and leans back against the tree trunk. Scarlett and Cara fixed the shelter on the ground while the guys kept a look out for anyone who might be watching. Scarlett is passing out some dried fruit then they pass around water.

"Fucking gross." Mason hands the rest of his fruit to Cara with a disgusted face.

"What's wrong?" She looks down at her palm then back at him.

"Berries. Don't like 'em." He leans back against the tree.

"Puckleberry." She whispers quietly, but she doesn't think that it was loud enough for them to here. But now everyone is looking at Scarlett. "What?"

"What is a Puckleberry?" Cara looks at her with her head tilted. "Is it something that only grows in your District?"

She laughs. "Yeah, something like that."

Mason sits there while they get quiet again then finally speaks up. "Puckleberry." This time everyone looks over at him. "Puck." As if on cue, Puck raises his eyebrows at him. "Do the two have something in common?"

Scarlett covers her mouth trying not to laugh hysterically. Once she finally stops she looks at Mason then Puck. "Yeah. Our school actually gave him and his fiancée a nickname. I guess in a way you could say people were secretly obsessed with them."

"What? Why didn't I hear about this?"

"You two were so involved with each other that you didn't pay attention. Plus you're so 'badass'", she uses air quotations, "that no one would want to find out the hard way if you didn't like it."

"Now the all of Panem knows." He mumbles. "And I am a badass. I mean, look at me." He runs his hand down by his body to emphasize his point then lightly kicks Scarlett's foot. Puck smirks at her when she glares at him.

"Yeah, real badass in your skintight blue suit and purple belt." She laughs when he glares at her.

"I don't think anyone from our District would be creative enough to come up with something like that." Mason laughs.

"So you have a fiancée?" Puck can't help but notice that Cara's voice falters a little bit when she asks. "Why didn't you say anything about her in the interview? Sponsors would've eaten that up." Both tributes from 12 look at him curiously.

"I don't know. It didn't really cross my mind."

"But you're really attractive. At least the women would be wanting to send you things. Anything. Probably even warm food."

"Yeah, but things get more expensive as the Games go on. They'd go broke trying to send things to me if they only cared about how attractive I am." He winks at Cara.

She blushes at the wink and looks away. "I'm just surprised your mentors didn't try to use it to your advantage, that's all."

"Is this how your home is? With the salt water?" Mason cuts in, clearly uncomfortable with how Cara is saying how attractive Puck is. And even more so since they still haven't gotten anything from their own District when the other two have.

"It doesn't have trees like this there, but the salt water, mostly yeah." Scarlett shrugs. "What about yours?"

"There's a layer of coal dust over everything. That's about it."

"Do you get to keep any of the coal?" Puck looks at Mason.

"No. Well anything that we can get off our boots. What about you with the fish?"

"We have to sell the fish we catch. Sometimes we'll pay for a few of them right after we sell it, but they're kind of strict about it."

Puck knows they're not showing them on TV right now. President Snow wouldn't like that they're talking about other Districts while in the Hunger Games. They're not allowed to interact with each other even when they're at home. They all sit there in silence, thinking about the homes they want to go back to. By the time this is over, one of the four of them, or none of them would be going home. Alive. He forces the thought out of his head and moves to get out of their little shelter. His legs are starting to hurt.

"Where are you going?" Scarlett moves over to his spot and leans against the tree.

"Taking a piss."

He looks around to see if there's any tributes around. Not seeing any near him he looks for a tree far enough away that they won't have to smell it while they sleep. Scarlett thinks he can be an asshole but he's considerate. They're living in an arena that functions like a damn clock, he doesn't want to be smelling piss when he's trying to sleep. Disgusting. Puck's shaking off and tucking himself back into his suit when he hears a whistling sound and something skims his shoulder. A knife. Frantically, he looks around but sees a bit of blonde running away in the opposite direction. Luckily she didn't have that good of aim or else it would've gone straight through his heart.

"Son of a bitch!" He yells but then instantly regrets it. Puck looks around, hoping that the blonde doesn't come back to kill him. Taking a look at his shoulder, it's bleeding at a pretty fast rate. He walks back fast to the camp where Cara and Scarlett came out while Mason is surveying the area.

"What happened?" Scarlett rushes over and pulls his hand off the bloody mess on his shoulder. "We need to clean that."

Cara hands them a bottle of water which his quickly poured over his shoulder. Once they get it to stop bleeding for a few seconds, all of them take a good look at it. It's at least an inch deep into his the muscle of his shoulder, about five to six inches in length.

"That's going to need stitches." Mason points out.

Just like that, a small parachute is floating to the ground. Scarlett makes Puck sit on the ground while Cara is ready to wash away any blood that flows out. They're a good distance away from their shelter, not wanting to attract anyone or anything (if there are any animals out here, but you never know if the Capitol plans on releasing more muttations) to the safety of their temporary home. Mason opens up the kit and sees a needle, a bowl, rubbing alcohol, some line for the actual stitching, and a roll of cotton bandage. A small first aid kid floats down after it, probably to help keep it clean afterwards.

Mason hands Puck his knife. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Bite on the handle. They didn't send anything to numb you up."

Cara and Scarlett instantly pale at what he says. Puck nods then looks at the girls. "So which one of you is doing it?"

Scarlett looks at the younger girl and her jaw is clenched shut. "I will. Cara, can you pour the disinfectant into the bowl then onto his shoulder?"

She nods and does as she's told. Scarlett dumps in the materials to sanitize it then pour some over her hands, not wanting to get anything into his shoulder while she's stitching him up. When Cara pours the disinfectant, Puck hisses but doesn't put the knife handle into his mouth yet.

"Are you ready?" She whispers. Cara is looking at them both, ready with water and disinfectant to wash away any blood while Mason is standing up and looking around. Puck nods and puts the handle into his mouth, teeth gripping it tight. Mason had covered part of it with the bandage from the kit, not wanting to him to break any teeth.

Scarlett inserts the needle to make a small knot before she begins. He scoffs thinking it's not too bad. But once she starts to pull the needle through his skin, pulling and making it tight, he can feel everything coming together. Excruciating pain shoots down his arm and he groans loudly into the handle, clamping down with his teeth. She says sorry quietly but keeps going. Cara wipes the sweat off his forehead and Mason just looks at him with a pained expression. Scarlett is only half way done when the knife falls from his mouth and drops to the ground with a dull thud. A choked sound comes from his throat.

"I'm hurrying as fast as I can Puck, just hang on."

Scarlett tries to go faster but his groans are just becoming more frequently. She can feel him shaking underneath her fingers, but has to pour more disinfectant down since everything is covered in blood. His muscle tenses underneath her as she quickly goes back to work. Cara is rubbing the top of his forehead, trying to distract him and keep any sweat out of his eyes. Mason finally turned around, not being able to watch any more blood come out.

Puck feels bad that the girls are having to do this. He knows Scarlett's got a weak stomach. But by the time they get to the end, he's lost enough blood to feel dizzy and his arm has gone numb. A deep throbbing pain is in his shoulder, but he's glad he didn't get hit on his right arm. Being weak in his dominate arm would mean he'd be weaker in the Games. Disinfectant runs over his shoulder one more time before the bandage, then Mason is helping Puck back to shelter. The girls take everything that got dirty from the procedure and puts it on top of the bloody area. They set a fire to get rid of any evidence they were there and that someone was injured. They came to the edge of the section where it would rain blood soon and it'd just be put out. Even if someone came to inspect the area, they wouldn't find any of them.

Cara and Scarlett get back and find that Puck is asleep with Mason filling up more water. Scarlett rests against the tree and brings his head into her lap, rubbing his hair.

"That was awful." Cara whispers, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. She sits next to Scarlett and looks at them.

Scarlett nods and tips her head back. Mason looks at her and sees that she's exhausted from trying to be strong throughout the entire thing. "How did you learn how to do that?"

"I've had to sew and fix my clothes before. It's pretty much the same thing." She shrugs.

"Get some sleep. We'll wake you up if something happens. Or he'll wake you up when he wakes up."

"I hope Finnick sends some food or at least bread." Scarlett looks out into the trees then closes her eyes. Puck's even breathing soothes her nerves instantly.


	9. Chapter 9

**I do not own Glee or The Hunger Games.**

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><p>Rachel is laying on the floor with her head on Santana's lap. The girl is running her fingers through Rachel's soft brown curls. They rushed back to Rachel's house from the bakery. Her parents were tired of her moping around so her mom told them to go home and find something else to do. Instantly the TV was turned on to the Games. Never have either of them watched it so much. Santana was worried about Rachel watching Puck change on TV. They were too young to notice any big changes in Finnick when he came back home, but they knew that he struggled. More so when he went to the Capitol every year.<p>

Santana strokes her hair, tuning out her thoughts of Puck changing. It was lunch time here but early in the morning in the Arena. The screen was divided into three different sections. On the left side it showed the Careers camping on the beach. The male Tribute from District 7 decided to work with the Careers, making four of them. Below that was Puck's alliance, it was hard to see into their shelter but it seemed like the Gamemakers maneuvered it to where you could see in the opening slightly. He was on guard with Mason, the tribute from 12, while the girls slept. Then on the right side, it showed the girl from 7, walking around. She looked scared, but who wouldn't be when they're alone to fend for themselves.

"She looks thirsty." Rachel whispers, staring at the screen.

"I don't think they've shown her drinking any water. Just sips every now and then from the bottle that she got from the Cornucopia."

"Nothing has happened in two days." Rachel rolls over so she's looking up at her friend with worried eyes.

Santana sighs and brushes the hair off her friend's forehead. "They're probably planning something to make them start killing again."

She glances back at the TV. "Do you think he's okay? He looks tired."

Rachel doesn't get an answer. She knows it was a stupid question. Sitting up, she looks at Santana. "It looks like Finnick isn't doing anything to help him."

"Rachel, he found a way to get them water. Granted it took those people from 12 to figure it out, but it helped. Look at the girl wandering around alone. She would probably kill everyone for that tool just to drink some. Things from sponsors are going to get more expensive as the Games go on. I don't even know how much it cost to send him the things for his stitches."

"You're right. I'm sorry."

Rachel puts her left hand in her lap, twisting around her engagement ring. She wasn't even thinking about planning a wedding while Noah was in that Arena. She couldn't bring herself to do it. Not while she watched him get a knife thrown at him then how much pain he was in when the girl was fixing his shoulder. Every groan she heard made her cry. When the knife dropped out of her mouth she completely lost it. That night when they turned off the TV, everyone took turns holding her that night. Rachel would have nightmares about seeing him die. His mother was holding her hand around 3 a.m. and kept saying that the girl did a good job fixing him up and that he would be fine. Emily was sort of the town's unofficial nurse and many people went to her for help when they needed it. Better than some of the other women around who could heal wounds. Everyone knew that his mother was having a hard time convincing herself what she told Rachel.

They look at the screen when something looks like it's happening. The Careers are standing up, the boy from 7 staying to guard the camp. The brunette looks like she's angry, animatedly throwing her hands up in the air and it looks like she's screaming at the blonde then storms off in one direction. The guys look at each other then head off in another. The screen splits up into more squares.

Rachel looks at Santana worried. "That Clove girl is headed towards Noah's camp!" She points to the screen as if her friend couldn't see it herself.

Santana sighs. "He'll be fine Rachel."

Once Rachel turns back to the screen and she can't see Santana, she looks at the screen. She wouldn't admit this to Rachel, but she's worried about her former fuck buddy. (Rachel ignores it and refuses to speak of that ever happening between the two.) The sun is starting to come up on the screen and Santana feels like she's holding her breathe the entire time. She can only hope that Puck and Mason are prepared for anything. This can't be good as the girl gets closer to the camp. Rachel reaches back and grips her hand as they watch. She's trying to be strong for Rachel, but she doesn't know how much longer she'll be able to take this. She just wants him and Finnick back home.

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><p>Finnick and Emma are looking at the screen in their designated room at the Games Headquarters. Quinn is standing behind them, on the phone with a sponsor trying to see about getting Puck and Scarlett some warm food. They managed to send some broth down for them after Puck had his stitches put in, but they didn't want to use all their resources. Sponsors were happy to see that they were smart in building their shelter. Emma sits down and looks at the screens some more. They've got views on every part and could see every person. The Careers seemed to have figured out that certain things go on in certain areas of the arena, much like the tributes from 12 did. They found an area on the beach that they deemed safe and set up a camp. It was obvious they didn't care about being in the open because they think they have the advantage over everyone else.<p>

"Do you think it was smart of them to team up with 12?"

Finnick looks over at Emma then sits down, putting his hands into his pockets. "Why not? If someone attacks them, 12 has the least impressive weapons."

"Don't underestimate the machete. During my Games, someone's ally lost part of their arm trying to run away from one. He didn't get far." She grimaces at the memory and opens up her water bottle.

He makes a face then turns back to the screens. "Alright. But we better hope that ours are better fighters."

"We can send them food in a few hours. Does it look like anything is going to be happening soon?" Quinn walks up behind Finnick and puts her hand on the back of his chair, leaning forward, her face next to his while looking at the monitors.

"I don't know. Looks like the Careers are up to something." He looks at the screens again. The four of them are sitting around a fire and talking close together. "Looks like that girl hasn't had a drink in days." He points to the girl from 7 on the screen.

The girl is leaning against a tree. She's pale and then leans over to vomit. She begins to shake and collapses on the ground, gripping her stomach tightly. Finnick looks at the screen and his heart is breaking for her. He would pay out of his own pocket to get Puck water if he was in that situation.

"Poor girl. She's not going to last long." Emma looks away from the screen, wiping away a tear.

"Yes, well, we need to worry about ours." Quinn walks away, her high heels clicking against the floor. "Figure out a time to send that to them." She calls over her shoulder.

He rolls his eyes at Quinn. "What's wrong Emma?"

"It's so wrong. Why aren't her mentors helping? She's been snacking on nuts and that can't even be helping."

"I know it's hard to watch, but we have to focus on Puck and Scarlett. At least we're helping someone by sending them food." He hates having to say anything like this to her, but it's the reality of their situation.

But just as he says it, a small parachute floats down to the girl. It looks like a gallon of water and some clear broth. She looks over to it, confused. Finnick thinks she might be hallucinating, but then she reaches out and flinches because the pot is hot. Taking small sips of water, she leans back against the tree and closes her eyes. He's relieved that she won't die from dehydration. It'd be an awful way to go, but in the Games, any way is a bad way to die.

"Looks like nothing will be happening soon. Let's send it now. It's been a day and a half. It's nighttime, no one will see it." She gets up to go talk to Quinn about sending stew and bread.

Finnick looks at the screens, looking at Puck. "Something is going to happen soon. Be prepared." Knowing that his best friend can't hear him. He looks down to his watch and sighs. Another appointment to get to.

The next day they're sitting in front of the screens, all three of them. Puck and Scarlett look much better after having something than dried fruit in their system. Especially Puck. He's been getting protein from fish nearly all his life. It's the guys turn to watch out, the sun peeking out ready for the new day. Finnick was exhausted, he had another 'meeting' late last night when Emma was watching. He had gotten barely any sleep and he was leaning back in his chair with his feet crossed at the ankles, his feet up near the monitors. The girls next to him were talking, about what he didn't know, when he notices something on the screen.

"What are they doing?" He drops his feet to the floor and pulls up closer to the screen.

Quinn's head snapped to the screen along with Emma's. The Careers were huddled around their fire, discussing something. One stays behind while the girl goes off alone after looking like she threw a hissy fit, the boys walking in a parallel path with her in a different section. Emma looks over to where Puck is, not seeing much since they built their shelter well. It looks like the boys are up on watch again. The girl is walking right towards their camp.

"Shit. I hope they're prepared." Finnick slams his hands down on the counter, stands up angrily and starts to pace.

"Finnick, please sit down." Emma looks at him worriedly. She's about to stand up when he glares at her. She knows he's so tired. The Capitol has been keeping his busy with his appointments and then he was so determined to get Puck home that he was functioning without sleep. He would come into the Headquarters either in what he wore to his appointment with his shirt unbuttoned, perfume filling up the small area from his shirt or come in wearing denim pants and a shirt, only to go change into dress pants and a button up shirt. He didn't care how he looked to her or Quinn.

"I need some coffee."

Quinn stands up and pushes him to his chair when he moves to stand up then goes off to look for some for him, seeing that he's clearly stressed out and tired. He takes Quinn's seat instead next to Emma and stares at the screen, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. Just then, he sees someone in the shelter move. They must have heard her.

He's staring so hard at the screen that he barely recognizes that Quinn is standing next to him with coffee, sugar, cream and some pastries. She clears her throat and pushes them towards him a little more. He snaps the tray from her and she jumps back, almost twisting her ankle when her heel slightly slips.

Finnick grabs her arm to steady her. "I'm sorry Quinn. I'm just a little on edge right now."

"It's okay Finnick." She smiles sadly and sits down next to him, grabbing her own coffee while Emma grabs hers. They leave the food for him though.

On the screen it shows the girl from the Careers inching closer and closer until they hear a thud and she falls to the ground.

* * *

><p>Mason is leaning against the bush that's to his right, Puck leaning against the bush on his left, making sure the bruised area isn't against anything. The girls are in the sleeping bag taking a nap. They both want more of the stew that they got last night, but it's all gone. Back to eating dry fruit and meat.<p>

"We should go fishing soon. I'm a man, I can't survive off fruit. And that dry meat shouldn't even be called meat. It's disgusting." Puck stares out at the trees. The sun is starting to come up, so he takes his glasses off and tosses them towards the backpacks. Mason does the same.

"Fine with me. The girls should stay here, watch the shelter while we go out." Puck looks at him questioningly. "Look, if it comes down to me and them, I don't think I could kill them. If we're gone and something should happen." Mason shrugs and quits talking, thinking Puck would understand.

"Good point." He looks back at the girls then back out. "How do you think they would fight if those two are the last ones who make it to the end? They're getting really close."

"Yeah I know. But hey, if it gets to that point we won't have to worry about it." He says darkly.

Puck sighs as Mason shrugs then watches as the dark haired kid moves forward a little bit. A twig snaps followed by a curse coming from whoever made the noise. Puck reaches back for his slingshot, loading it with a rock. They sit, waiting for the person who was coming. A girl walks into their view and Puck takes a shot. She screams then falls down on the ground, clutching the spot behind her right ear but a bit lower on her neck. Puck gets up and runs to her, rolling her over. He sits back on his heels when he looks into her eyes. Tears are rolling down her face at a steady pace.

They're almost the exact same color as Sarah's. Hair the color of Rachel's maybe a shade darker. Is it possible that Clove could look like his future daughter if he ever has one? Suddenly he's overcome with guilt for hitting this girl. Mason runs over and looks at him.

"What are you doing? Kill her." He says in a hushed but harsh whisper.

Puck looks up at Mason, shaking his head. "I can't."

He looks at him then back at the girl. She has tears in her eyes and it looks like she can't move at all. Maybe her head is hurting too bad. "I'll take care of it."

The girl whimpers and Puck looks back her. "I'm so fucking sorry Clove." He steps backwards with his hands behind his head, slingshot in his left hand. Puck can't even feel it when a stitch pops out and sweat is falling into his wound. Mason sits behind her, putting his right arm across her body and around her jaw on the left. He thinks that he hears Mason humming to her, his face by her left ear. He takes a last look over his shoulder, she has her eyes closed with a slight smile on her face then he focuses on his shoes.

A snap echoes through the woods, the sound of her neck snapping, then a canon. Voices are coming through, shouting her name. There's only a few people who would have the balls to scream like that here in the arena. Careers. He looks at Mason who is standing up, brushing her hair out of her face.

"Does she have anything useful?" Puck looks at her body.

"No, nothing we don't already have."

The voices are coming in closer and they know the hovercraft is waiting on them to move. They move back over to their shelter, not wanting to wake up the girls. Mason pulls cover over the front of them even though it's hard to see them already.

Cato, her District partner runs into the area where her body is. "Shit! Marvel, she's fucking dead." He pulls her up and examines the body.

"Cato, how did she die?" Marvel is staring at her lifeless body.

"Snapped neck. You didn't hear that over there?" The blonde looks over at Marvel, his pupils are dilated and he's suddenly very scared that the hovercraft will be collecting his body as well as Clove's.

"I didn't think it was the sound of her neck breaking! I've never heard anything like that before." He crosses his arms over his chest.

"There's not even a sign anyone was here!" Cato cries out frustrated.

Marvel looks around. "Well where the fuck could they be? We weren't that far away." He looks up in the trees looking for a body when he notices something flying. "The hovercraft is here."

They both look up then back down at her body. "Grab her knife. Just one less person to worry about." Cato chokes out then looks at her one last time. "I want to kill whoever got her. There's only five people it could've been."

"You won't even know who to kill."

"I don't care. I'll make all of them suffer when I see them. They'll all pay for her death." Cato moves out into the woods then watches as the hovercraft pulls up her body from the ground. Marvel follows behind him, wondering what Clove must have meant to him to be this angry about her death. They were Careers, this is what they're training to do.

Mason looks over at Puck. "Should we go after them?"

"No. Even though we have an advantage, pissed off Careers will result in us being dead. Adrenaline is pumping, especially in Cato. We'll get him though."

Mason nods. "Let's wake them up so we can get some sleep. Fishing at night may be smarter right now. At least when it's dark they won't be able to see us."

Puck nods and reaches over to wake up Scarlett. She stirs and looks up at her partner, only to see that he looks upset. His eyes aren't as green as they were yesterday. Sitting up, she puts her hands on either side of his face while Mason has his back turned to them while waking up Cara.

"What happened?" She whispers, concern dancing in her eyes.

He swallows and looks down. Puck knows that Rachel won't be able to see this, they're too well hidden, but he needs to get it out. "Clove. He snapped her neck, but she just looked like…" His voice trails off then he looks into her eyes. "Her eyes were like my sister's. Almost the same color hair as Rachel."

Scarlett bites her lower lip and glances over at Mason. Still trying to wake his partner up. She runs her hand over his scalp. "Remember what they told you. Don't think about her here. Look at you, you're freaking out about this." She pulls out his necklace and drags his hand up to rub the gold star. "That's the only way you think about her."

Puck is shocked at the way Scarlett just spoke to him. Her hands fall to her side and then reaches around for some dried fruit and nuts to eat. He knows she's right, but why is she helping him? At some point they're going to have to break their alliance. Mason leans against the tree trunk and pulls the jacket over his shoulders and instantly falls asleep. He lays on the ground facing away from everyone while absentmindedly rubbing the star as he falls asleep.

Scarlett and Cara are watching out through the trees when she hears something rustling behind her. Both heads turn towards Puck and notice that his face is covered with sweat. She looks over at the other girl.

"When did we last change his bandage?"

Cara thinks for a minute. "I think after he woke up the day we put them in."

"Shit, it's been almost two days?" The girl shrugs and looks back at him. Scarlett moves towards him. "Puck, wake up."

He opens his eyes tiredly and stares at her blue ones. "What?"

"We need to change your bandage." He shakes his head. "Yes, now come on."

Puck sits up as she unzips his suit and gently pulls it off his left shoulder. Mason is still fast asleep. He winces as the bandage pulls away from his skin, ripping off anything that may have stuck to it and dried. His eyes are closed when he hears Cara gag, he looks over at her.

"Sorry." She looks down to the ground then away from his face.

"It's infected. And when did you pop a stitch?"

"Probably earlier after we got Clove. I didn't even feel it."

"You might be getting a fever." She wipes his forehead and sighs. Pulling open the first aid kit she pours the disinfectant over it and finds some fever pills. "Take this. But we may need to find a way to show Finnick that you need medicine for this"

"Want me to run outside and let them take a look at my shoulder?" He teases but then wipes his forehead. "It's so fucking hot out here."

"That could be the fever." She looks at him and gently wipes his shoulder. There's pus in the parts that she can see.

"Maybe you should go outside. They won't be able to see in here to notice that you need medicine." Cara adds in gently.

Puck nods his head and makes his way outside, looking around for anyone else. He walks a little bit before he sits against a tree, wiping his forehead. Scarlett follows him out and sits next to him, dabbing his forehead and starts to wrap a bandage around his cut.

"I'm not a fucking baby Scarlett, I can do it myself." He pulls the bandage from her hand and fumbles around with it.

Not wanting to make him mad or make him feel less like a man, she watches as he tries to wrap it around his shoulder. Scarlett just looks away until he makes a little 'ah ha!' sound. She looks back and sees that it's not wrapped that well but she doesn't say anything. Noticing more sweat trailing down his face and onto his chest she worries that Finnick won't tell there's something wrong.

"Maybe if we talk about it?"

He grunts and looks over his shoulder at her. "What are we supposed to say? Hey Finnick my shoulder has pus in it and I'm sweating like hell?"

"I don't know Puck!" Scarlett stands up, waving her hands in the air and looks down at him. "Don't push me away. I'm just trying to help you survive so you can get back to your precious fucking girlfriend." Her chest is heaving slightly from being angry and frustrated. She throws her hands over her mouth and walks away.

Puck reaches for her, feeling bad that he just pushed her to snap at him but he's not quick enough. Damn fever. She's walking around picking up the nuts they knew were safe. He tilts his head back till it hits the rough bark. All he wants is to go home. Who is even left? He tries to think about it but the sweat almost dripping into his eye distracts him.

"Scarlett." He says pathetically. Everyone will be watching this and he's acting like a baby. It might even piss Rachel off but he needs Scarlett here as much as he hates to admit it.

She stops what she's doing and looks at him. "What?" Her tone has a certain acidity to it and it's not something he wants to hear ever again.

"Come back over here and sit down." He watches as she thinks about it then walks back over. Handing him a few nuts she begins to eat hers. "I'm sorry for being an asshole."

Sighing, "It's fine." She looks up into the trees, barely being able to see the bright blue sky. Something catches her eye and she squints. "Puck!" She points to a small silver parachute falling to the ground.

He lets out a breath. Fumbling around to get the small vile off, she pours a pill into his hand. He dry swallows it and sighs contently. "Thank you." Puck looks up and knows that Finnick is probably smirking at his pathetic ass.

"I'm pretty sure you have to take these every four hours or so. Let's get back in now that we have this."

He nods at her and stands up, walking back to the shelter slowly while they look around. When they get back, they both notice that there's some greens and rolls. He looks at the two allies and raises an eyebrow.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Haymitch decided that he wanted to send something I guess." Cara shrugs and pushes some towards them both. "You've been sharing with us, it's only right that we do the same." She smiles innocently and goes back to eating her share.

"Get your medicine?" Mason mumbles, his mouth full of bread.

"Yep." He shakes the small vile, wanting to take them all at once.

"You'll need to get some rest after you eat." Scarlett tells him then bites into her food.

"Should be a nurse or something like my mom is. You nag like one." He looks at Scarlett which earns him a glare in return. He smirks and inhales his food, laying down afterwards.

Puck wonders if they're all trying to figure out how to kill him when he's asleep with how much he's been sleeping since he got the stitches. He closes his eyes and prays that they'll open again in a few hours.

As he sleeps, Scarlett looks over to Mason and Cara. "Things are a little too quiet around the arena. Something is going to happen soon. I think we need to decide if we're going to go look around and hunt or just sit here like ducks."

"Going towards the Careers and coming up with a plan might be smarter. We outnumber them 4-3 now so we have the upper hand." Mason looks over to Puck. "Even with him injured."

"Plus we have his sling shot and the arrows. We could easily take them out. Right?" Cara looks between the two of them.

Scarlett thinks the girl is a little too innocent for the Games. But it's one of the things that makes people mad when younger kids are Reaped. She knows she is pretty innocent herself but there's just something about Cara. They've bonded while the guys have been asleep and she knows if it somehow comes down between the two of them, she'll want the younger girl to live. They all nod and make a plan to collect more nuts tomorrow and pack up the camp. They'll discuss it with Puck once he wakes up to make sure everyone agrees one more time.


	10. Chapter 10

**I do not own Glee or The Hunger Games.**

**This chapter is short. I just couldn't think of any ways to make it longer, but the next one should be. Thanks again for all the reviews and alerts. They legit make my day :)**

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><p><em>Puck is looking into Clove's eyes, tears falling down her cheeks. Mason is just standing there, looking between them and waiting for Puck to kill her. He looks down to her then sees a mix of him and Rachel. Her hair, his eyes and tan skin.<em>

_"Please don't kill me." She whispers._

_"Puck, just kill her. We need to keep moving." Mason looks back at Cara and Scarlett shrugging and shaking his head._

_"What would my mom think? She won't love you anymore if you kill her only daughter." The girl looks at him again._

_"She's not here. And you're not my daughter, you're Clove."_

_"Fine, don't kill her. Just leave her here. Someone will." Scarlett walks over, pulling on his forearm. "Unless you want to die with her, we have to go. Please Puck."_

_He looks up at her, Scarlett is forming tears in her eyes too. He looks between the two. Rachel would hate him. Sarah would hate him. Finnick would understand, he's had to kill to keep himself alive. Puck shakes his head._

_"Clove?" Someone yells._

_"Fuck you Puck, I'm out of here." Mason grabs Cara and runs towards the beach._

_"Please." Scarlett looks at him and tugs on his arm some more._

_Puck just looks back at the girl laying on the ground. "I can't."_

_One of Scarlett's tears falls down her cheek. "I can't stay here and die with you. I want to go home." She turns around and follows them towards the beach._

_"Thank you." Clove smiles brightly up at him. It's like Rachel's smile._

_He sighs and wonders what the hell he just did. Now he'll never get back to Rachel because he couldn't kill this girl. The figure who was yelling her name is closer now. One minute he's holding her hand, the next everything turns black._

Puck wakes up and sits up fast. He's breathing hard as Scarlett looks back at him concerned. "Are you okay?" She feels his head then hands him another fever pill and antibiotic.

"Um, yeah. I'm fine." He looks over and sees that Mason is awake. "How about we go fishing?"

Cara looks at them. "I can stay here, you guys can go to the beach."

Puck doesn't even question it. He grabs the extra net plus the other things he'll need then exits the shelter. Scarlett and Mason have to jog a bit to catch up to him. It's late in the afternoon as they walk. The dream keeps haunting him no matter how much he tries to think of something else. A high pitched scream echoes near him. Puck stops in his tracks and looks around. More screaming.

"Rachel?"

He runs towards the sound with Scarlett trying not to scream his name, it coming out as a harsh whisper. Leaves are crunching behind him as his runs. Once he gets to the spot where he hears the screaming, there's no one around. He spins in circles then looks up. A jabber jay is sitting in the tree, Rachel's scream coming from its beak. He takes his extra knife and throws it up, killing the bird. Scarlett finally catches up to him and stares at the bird. She's out of breath and looking at him like he's insane.

"What is that?"

"Jabber jay. Stupid fucking bird." He looks at Scarlett. "Where's Mason?"

"He was behind me." She turns and sees that he's nowhere near them.

They walk back to where they last saw him, and there he is. Just standing there. Scarlett kind of skips over to him before knocking into something and falling over. Mason bangs on the invisible wall, trying to tell them something. Eventually he gives up and shakes his head sitting down. He takes his knife and draws patterns around in the dirt while looking around for anyone who might be roaming the woods.

"We're trapped in here." She turns and looks at Puck. He's just looking at the invisible barrier that's separating them from Mason, frustrated that this is another trick up the Gamemakers sleeves.

Another scream starts, this one male. And another, female. Santana's. Puck sits on the ground and covers his ears. He quickly realizes it won't help. He punches the ground then lays down, staring up at the birds that are staring down at him. He glares at all them, wondering if he killed them all if more would just reappear. Scarlett lays down too, curling up in the fetal position, but he notices there are tears going down her cheeks.

"Scarlett?"

She lets out a small sob then sniffles as the screaming starts to get louder. Then she flops onto her back and screams. "He's dead! How can you even use this against me?" She sobs harder.

Puck sits up and pulls her to him. "Who's dead?"

"My brother."

He tries to think back in school. He saw her walking home with a guy once. Freakishly tall with the same colored hair. Why did this guy seem more familiar? The only way he'll find out is if he asks her, but since she's crying so hard, he knows it'll kill her.

"How did he die?"

She laughs sarcastically. "The Hunger Games. Two years ago."

Puck struggles with his next few words. "He seems to be a little more familiar than just being in the Games."

"Finn dated Santana for a few weeks three years ago. He really liked her, but then he saw how she looks at Finnick. I think he had a crush on Rachel too." He tenses at her last addition of how he liked Rachel, but it was three years ago. He has to let that go seeing how the guy is dead. Scarlett sniffles again. More screams add to Santana's and Finn's. Rachel's again. Then Sarah's joins.

He sighs, now remembering how he knew of Finn. "If he's dead, how are they using his screams? For all I know they could have Rachel and everyone else."

"There's only 8 or so of us left, right? They're probably interviewing our families right now. Just like with the mutts, they probably used their voices or something to torture us."

"Huh." Was all he managed to say.

She's quiet for a few minutes. "When he was in the Games, I remember my mom being a mess. Our dad died, but I don't remember how. Finn took care of us but then he was Reaped. She tried to be strong but when we saw him die…" She sniffles a bit. "My mom just lost it. She started to drink any type of alcohol she could find."

He hugs her closer, putting his cheek against her hair. Scarlett's tears are falling onto his arms and all he can think about is how disappointed Rachel must be in him right now. Injuring Clove so she couldn't move then Mason snapping her neck. Or would she think that he wasn't strong enough to do it since it's his job to get back to her. Then how he's holding Scarlett right now. Would she understand? His mind is working in over time till he finally gives into his exhaustion from trying to drown out the sounds.

Someone is nudging him as he finally wakes up. "We have to get out of here." Mason.

He stands up, gently pulling up Scarlett too. They both take a good look at her. Eyes are red and swollen, she's hiccupping and sniffling. Mason starts to walk her towards the beach. _Longest hour of my life._ Puck runs his hands over his face and follows them, eventually getting in front of them so he can check out the beach before they go. Lucky for them the sun has started to set so fishing will be somewhat easier without anyone trying to find them out here.

Mason drops Scarlett onto the sand gently, handing her some water and fruit. "Keep an eye out, especially for Marvel or Cato. We're going to go try and get some food."

Puck nods to her then tests out the water. Slightly colder than it was on the first day. He dives down, looking for anything that might be good for them. Mason stays back near the beach since he doesn't swim and since Puck can handle it. Once he surfaces, he motions Mason to throw him the net. He gets everything secured to catch some fish in no time since it's his job to do this every day. Then he dives down again, gathering up oysters he finds and securing them into the silver parachute he brought along. He swims over to Mason and hands him the parachute, then goes back to grab the net. There's four fish in it, but he thinks it'll at least last till they can come back out.

Scarlett carries the oysters while Puck carries the net. They're walking back quickly to the shelter when they hear a whistling sound coming through the woods. It makes a slight thwack sound before a thump happens. A canon sounds. They look back and see that there's a knife in Mason's neck.

He gives her a gentle push. "Shit, run Scarlett."

"But Mason?" She looks at him, her eyes still red. Scarlett moves towards him, but Puck grabs her arm roughly and pulls her away.

"He's dead. Go!"

They run back to the shelter and Cara looks around for Mason. Scarlett shakes her head no, and the other girl understands. "Do they know that we're here?"

"No, but they know we're in this area. There's no point in hiding anymore. Let's build a fire and get this cooking. Take down the shelter so they don't know that we can make anything look like the trees and bushes."

The girls nod at Puck. Scarlett gets to work deconstructing the shelter while Cara builds a fire. He starts to gut the fish then works on the oysters. The first few he opens contains pearls. Puck sets them aside in the parachute then sticks it in the backpack. The girls just smile sadly, upset about Mason's death and work to cook the fish. As they wait and look around to see if there's any Tributes nearby, another silver parachute floats down. It contains a bowl of broth and more bread. Scarlett and Cara instantly dig in, while Puck looks up, silently thanking Finnick or Haymitch for sending it.

Puck is keeping watch, finally caught up on sleep and feeling better than he has the past few days. The pills have killed his fever and his shoulder is feeling much better. The girls are in the sleeping bag but he knows that they're not asleep. Sniffles can be heard but not loud enough to make him turn back to them. Scarlett is probably still thinking about her brother then seeing the knife sticking out of Mason's neck. Cara is most likely thinking about her District partner just being dead all of a sudden. Puck throws in some more branches and watches the fire. After awhile the crying finally stops and he assumes the girls are finally asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**I do not own Glee or The Hunger Games**

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><p>Puck stared at the sky, almost back to a full moon. It was only weeks ago he was back in District 4, probably sitting with his mom, Sarah, Rachel and Santana eating dinner. He just wants to be back at home. Scarlett sits down next to him, Cara is asleep. They moved their shelter from the woods back to the section with the blood rain, but with a view of the Careers camp. Days have gone by and they're almost positive the Gamemakers are getting bored. No deaths have happened, especially since they know he has a clear view of the other camp. The girl from District 7 was still off somewhere. Puck thinks about it and he's pretty sure he hasn't seen her since the interviews.<p>

"Where do you think 7 could be?"

Scarlett looks at the camp a second longer then back to Puck. "What do you mean?"

"I haven't seen her since we got to the arena. I mean…she's just not here."

She just sits there, letting sand run through her fingers. "We're coming up on two weeks. I think this arena was meant to kill us fast. But there's seven of us left. They're going to find a way to make us all come together. Maybe a feast."

"We need to get prepared. Mostly food."

He stands up with Scarlett staring at him. "I'll go look for some of those nuts we saw. Maybe Finnick will send something."

"Yeah. I'm going to go look for oysters. It'll be easier to do that right now."

They go their separate ways, Puck only having his knife on him. He dives into the water, grabbing a few oysters that he can feel with his hands. This won't be enough, he'll have to come back to fish tomorrow. He moves slowly back to the beach towards the camp so that none of the Careers will hear him.

Scarlett cleans out the oysters while he avoids making a small fire. At this time of night, it would be suicide, especially since they don't know where Caroline is. She hands him two of the oysters that he got then hands two more to Cara. They eat silently then eat dried pear half. This is what their nights have consisted of the past few days.

"I'm going to go for a swim. I'm going crazy here."

They nod to Cara then go to sit on the beach. Neither of them want to swim, but it's not like much can really happen right now anyways. She stays near the beach, not wanting to go too far out, laying on her back. The fire from the Careers camp on the other side of the beach is glowing brightly. It's clear that they felt safe there and never moved it. Then Puck thinks to himself, where was the tent by the Cornucopia? Maybe the Sponsors sent it.

Scarlett stands up abruptly next to him. He looks up at her and stands up, thinking maybe she saw the blonde somewhere in the woods. Then he notices it, Cara is drifting further out in the beach but she doesn't seem to notice. Scarlett begins to walk closer to her when the water starts to recede from the beach. Puck has spent enough time fishing to know that a big wave is about to form. He puts his around her waist and pulls him back against his chest. She doesn't like this.

"Cara!"

Puck slaps his hand over his mouth and looks around, hoping no one hear them. Cara snaps her neck over to them and tries to stand up, only to find that she can't reach the bottom anymore. They can both see her splashing and trying to make her way back to the beach. Tears are crashing onto his fingers, but he just keeps holding his hand over her mouth knowing that she'll start to cry or scream. He watches as the water continues to take her further out and she's screaming.

Scarlett bites his hand and he pulls it back, feeling blood trickling down his finger. "Fuck Scarlett what the hell?"

"She can't swim Puck!"

She starts to run towards the water when he grabs her arm and pulls her back, his strength shocks her. "Do you want to die?"

Tears run down her face. "No."

"Then leave her. I'm not dying to go save her, you see that?" He points to the giant wave that is about to come and hit the beach. "That will kill us or drag us out, no matter how good of swimmers we are. If you want to risk your life then fine."

Just then, the wave hits and something hits against the solid gold Cornucopia. The Careers are yelling and pointing from what Puck can see. Then he wonders if they've seen this wave before. Even though the three of them had been camped out near the beach, he never knew that there was a wave during these hours. A hovercraft appears and pulls a limp body out of the water. At least he knows she probably died instantly from hitting the thing instead of drowning. Scarlett collapses against his chest, crying. He starts to pull her away when the crying starts to become hysterical. He can't afford for the Careers to come over to this side of the beach with her in this condition.

He tucks her into the sleeping bag even though it's quite warm out here. "Get some sleep Scarlett. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen tomorrow." He makes her drink some water then puts it next to her in case she needs it.

She nods and closes her eyes. Puck looks at her then faces towards the beach. The Anthem and Capitol seal play then shows Cara's smiling face then it's just gone. He puts his face in his hands. It wasn't his fault that she couldn't swim, so he shouldn't feel guilty. But he does. Scarlett will hate him for sure. He didn't want to save her. One more person down means one more person closer he is to being home. His eyes start to flutter close till he hears something land next to him. A silver parachute with a cup attached to it. He smells it. Coffee. He closes his eyes and thinks of Finnick.

Puck is still awake from drinking his coffee the night before when Scarlett wakes up. She sits next to him and puts her head on his shoulder, sniffling a little bit. He hands her the bit of fruit they have left, knowing he'll be able to survive a day or two without eating anything as long as he has water. Scarlett shakes her head no.

"You need to eat. All of us are on the beach, something is going to happen."

"Don't you need anything?" She asks in a small voice while she eats some raisins.

"Nope." He pops the 'p' then drinks some water. "I'm going to fill up the rest of the bottles we have left."

Scarlett watches as he puts the spile into the tree and fills the bottles. He's been keeping her alive this whole time even though she killed with her bow and arrows. Will he kill her fast if it comes down between the two of them or will he give the Capitol a show. She doesn't even realize she's started to cry again when he crouches in front of her and wipes away a tear.

"Rachel is going to be so pissed at you for comforting me." She looks away from his eyes.

He laughs. "Yeah, well she's a midget, I don't think she could really hurt me."

"Maybe we should split up."

Puck looks at her and his eyebrows furrow together. "No."

He stands up and grabs his weapons that he wants to carry. She gets the idea and finishes up the fruit she has left then grabs her bow and knife. Puck grabs the machete he recovered from Mason and his knife. The spear he decides is too much baggage. Both of them look back at their little home then walk along the forest by the beach. A jacket washes up and Scarlett looks at it.

"Don't think about it." Puck is looking forward when she turns to him.

They stop for a few minutes to drink some water. He unzips the top part of his suit and pulls it down to his waist. She does the same thing, glad that she has a bra on.

"It's like they want us to bake in here." She fans herself and stares at a bird looking back at her.

He shakes his head then puts his arms back in the sleeves but leaves it unzipped. Scarlett looks at him like he's crazy and just leaves hers the way it is before they get back to walking. Sweat is pouring down his face while her hair clings to the back of her neck.

Footsteps are coming towards them, so Puck looks to his left and sees blonde hair coming right towards them. She's screaming, but he can't see any weapons in her hands. The girl knocks Scarlett over and pushes Puck but goes right towards the beach. He looks at the girl then down to Scarlett but her eyes are wide.

"What?"

Scarlett shakes her head no, points then gets up and starts to run towards the beach. Puck still doesn't understand then looks to his left, birds are flying away (he's not really sure where they would go), then he sees it. The Gamemakers set the trees on fire and the flames are headed right towards him.

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><p><em>Sorry it's short, but they'll get longer! Promise :)<em>


	12. Chapter 12

**I do not own Glee or The Hunger Games**

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><p>Rachel and Santana are sitting in the living room again, watching the Games since Rachel's parents couldn't stand her moping around anymore. Her mother told them both to just stay at home and not come in to help anymore. This time Santana is laying with her head on Rachel's thigh, tracing the band of her engagement ring absentmindedly. Rachel's fingers are running through the jet black hair of her friend.<p>

"I can't believe she's going to go swimming." Santana scoffs.

"There's nothing else to do there. They must all be going crazy." Rachel says softly, wondering if Noah is losing his mind.

"You'd go swimming in the arena? What if they put some crazy mutated shark in there to eat a tribute? Or something worse."

"I guess you're right."

She leans back on her arms and watches as the girl from District 12 floats on her back. In the trees, the girl from 7 is watching her intently like she's forming a plan of attack. Only one of the Careers is awake, staring at the Cornucopia.

The cameras show zoom in on the water moving, pulling her out to sea. Rachel sits up abruptly and so does Santana. On a different part of the screen, it shows Scarlett running out and screaming the girl's name.

"What is she doing? She's going to get them killed!" Rachel reaches for Santana.

Puck runs out and pulls her to his chest. They're arguing but then they see him pull his hand back with blood running down his arm. The girl starts to run towards the water but he grabs her again. She has tears running down her eyes but Puck is talking to her sternly.

"Let her go Puck. It'll be one less person to worry about." Santana glares at the TV.

Rachel nods, agreeing because she just wants him back at home. The wave pulls back, dragging the screaming girl up higher. Both Careers are out on the beach and pointing to where they think they can see her. In a small corner of the screen, the girl from District 7 is staring horrified at the scene in front of her. A big thud fills the living room, the camera zooming in on the middle of the screen of her body hitting the solid gold Cornucopia. All the reactions are being shown on either side of the middle. Scarlett is crying hysterically and Puck is pulling her away towards their camp. The girl in the trees is moving back towards the trees while the Careers are shouting and celebrating.

Santana focuses on the part of the screen where Puck is at. He's tucking her into the sleeping bag that they have and saying something quietly to the girl. She looks over to Rachel and she's spinning her engagement ring with a little more force.

"Stop Rachel. He loves you. He's used to taking care of you, Sarah and his mom. If he knew you were jealous right now, he'd probably fall apart in there." Rachel bites her lip and nods while a tear escapes. The taller girl wraps her arms around her and pulls her up then turns off the TV. "Let's try to get some sleep."

Rachel sits in front of the TV later in the middle of the night. She got out of the bed that she was sharing with Santana and tiptoes out of the room. Ever since Noah left after the Reaping, she's been sleeping less and less. Especially after the night he got his stitches. When the boy from District 12 died, the knife had been so close to hitting him that she had nightmares all night. Then with the girl from District 12 dying, her anxiety level was through the room. What if he couldn't make it back to her? How would she even go on? She sighs and looks down at her ring. Her little diamond that Noah saved up for, just for her.

Her hands anxiously twist her ring, watching the corner with Noah's camp set up. Finnick has just sent him coffee and he's staring at the water, over at the Career's camp. One boy is asleep and the other is awake. The girl from District 7 is sitting up in a tree, staring at the water too. It's clear what everyone who is awake is thinking. _I'm ready to go home_. As long as Noah is awake, she doesn't feel tired. Rachel stands up and goes into her room, grabbing one of Noah's jackets, wrapping it around herself to breathe in his smell. Sitting back down on the ground, she looks at the TV and lays on the ground. She ends up falling asleep.

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><p>Finnick comes back from his third appointment of the day since nothing has been going on in the arena. Emma and Quinn are sitting by the monitors, but as he walks towards them he eyes a pot of coffee. Heading straight for the table, he grabs the entire pot and a glass taking it over to the empty seat reserved for him.<p>

Emma looks up at him. There are bags under his eyes, red marks all over his chest, and a pot of coffee in one hand. His shirt is unbuttoned and his jacket hanging off his shoulders. He plops down next to Quinn, filling up his cup and chugging it down. Quinn glances over as he fills up the cup again just to drain it quickly.

"Finnick, are you okay?" Emma asks carefully.

"I'm fucking fantastic!" He puts down the cup and drinks straight out of the pot.

"That's hot Finnick…" Quinn flinches as he finishes it all and puts it down. He winces, noticing he just burned his entire mouth and possibly his throat and stomach.

"What's going on?" He nods up to the screen.

"Nothing has happened. But it looks like Noah is falling asleep while the girls are sleeping." Emma leans forward with her elbows on her skirt.

Finnick pulls out his wallet and throws a wad of cash on the counter. "Buy him a cup of coffee and send it to him."

Quinn looks at him with wide eyes. "A mentor has never bought anything for a tribute. It's going to be expensive."

"Just do it Quinn!" He yells. "He is all the fucking family I have left so just take the cash and buy him a damn cup of coffee."

Quinn grabs the cash and runs out of the room. Emma scoots her chair back. "Finnick, come here." He looks to her and stands up. Finnick stands next to her chair. "Sit down."

He looks at her questioningly and sits down. She pulls his back between her legs and begins to rub his neck and shoulders. "Thank you Emma. I'm sorry I've been so moody."

"They're making you work really hard. And the stress is so much worse because it's Puck in the arena. But look how strong he's been. I really think he'll be the one coming home."

"The Capitol people have been going crazy with the betting. They have it between Cato and Puck. The money they're putting in is getting to be a lot. It's sickening. And it's all going towards Cato."

"You know, they put a lot of bets against you. Not accepting anything from sponsors. By the time the end came they all wished they voted for you. Especially when the sponsors got sick of wanting to send something to you that they all put their money together and sent you that trident."

"That thing was the most amazing trident I had ever seen in my life."

"They all thought that you could honestly win. They ended up winning a lot of money when you won your Games. And only at fourteen. I was so proud of you." Emma hugs him close and begins to rub his shoulders again.

"Don't take any offense to this, but you remind me of my mom." His eyes tear up.

"Why would that offend me? I would hope if I were to have a son he would be like you."

They both look up to the screen and see the silver parachute fall next to Puck. She squeezes his shoulder and leans back in her chair, but he just stays seated on the floor. Quinn walks over and takes the seat next to Emma. "He looks more awake." She leans back into the seat and crosses her legs.

"Yeah he does."

They all stare at the screen, wondering what's going to happen in the next few days.

The next morning, Quinn walks into the room where Finnick is asleep on the floor near Emma's shoes. The red head is staring at the screen tiredly and fighting to stay awake. She stops over to the screens and slams her hands down in front of them, glaring at the monitors before her eyes. Emma jerks in her seat and accidentally kicks Finnick.

"Shit that hurt. Why do you even have to wear heels?" He rubs his ribs and looks over to Quinn. "What's wrong Q?"

"It's so infuriating that the Gamemakers won't tell us a damn thing that is going on. They have something up their sleeves but won't tell anyone. They think we'll send the tributes something to protect them. If they're planning something completely ridiculous, it's not like anyone could afford to send them anything protective!" She runs her hands through her curly blonde hair and slams them down onto the counter again.

"Quinn, breathe." Emma says calmly.

"You don't understand! They've never done this before. We usually just don't tell the mentors what's going to happen." She looks apologetically to the two in front of her and shrugs. "It's for the reason why the Gamemakers are refusing to tell us right now." She sits down and looks to the screen for any sign of what is about to come.

Finnick stands up and stretches then moves to his seat next to Quinn. They all begin to look around for any clues that something will be happening soon. Emma points to the screen. "There. Something has started already." The girl from District 7 is running from the back of the arena as fast as she can. That's when they see it. Flames are engulfing the trees.

"Oh fuck." Finnick stares at the screen and puts his hand over his mouth then looks to the screen where Puck is.

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><p>It's the afternoon and President Snow made it mandatory that everyone watches the Games today. Rachel's parents and Puck's mom are sitting on the couch in the Berry's living room while Rachel, Santana, and Sarah are sitting on the floor. They're all focused on the corner where Puck is sitting. Scarlett has just woken up and the two of them are talking. Santana holds Rachel's hand when he kneels down in front of her and wipes a tear off her cheek. Rachel scoffs and looks away.<p>

"Stop it Rachel." Santana says seriously and glares at her.

"You don't know how it feels." She says defensively.

"I don't care how it feels. He's the one in the arena." She points to the screen.

Rachel looks back at the TV and takes a deep breath. She hears that Puck refuses to break their alliance and goes out towards the beach, but stays within the trees. The camera zooms in showing the Careers on one side, but the box with the girl from 7 hasn't been shown. All of a sudden it shows her running through the trees, knocking down Scarlett and pushing past Puck. She's running as fast as she can towards the beach and once she hits the water, she looks relieved.

They all look at Puck and Scarlett. She's on the ground, her eyes wide and pointing to something before she gets up and sprints towards the beach. He looks back behind him and sees the big wall of fire and birds flying towards him. There's an explosion and he's knocked over, burning off a sleeve on his suit. Rachel lets out a scream and clutches for Santana while everyone gasps behind her. Sarah is crying, putting her hands over her face.

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><p><em>Not the best chapter, but I wanted to do another chapter in the form of Puck's family. Any mistakes that are on here are my own, and I apologize :D Hope you guys like it though. <em>


	13. Chapter 13

**I do not own Glee or The Hunger Games.  
><strong>

**Thank you for all the reviews and alerts. It seriously means so much to me! Also, I kinda forgot that the guy from District 7 was still alive in the last chapter. Oops..but he's back. My bad!  
><strong>

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><p>Puck is starting to turn around when there's an explosion. His arm feels like it's burning, but he picks his ass up and starts to run to the beach. Once his feet hit the sand, he looks to his right and finds Scarlett running down the beach towards where their shelter is still safe. He looks to his left and sees that the Careers are running this way. Caroline is in the water taking off the top half of her suit off since it's beginning to melt into her skin.<p>

"You!" Cato stares at Puck angrily as he comes running over to them.

"Fuck." He mumbles to himself and runs towards the shelter, easily losing them in the trees.

Once he reaches trees that haven't been touched by the fire, a hand reaches out and pulls him behind a bigger one. He's about to throw back a punch but he realizes it's Scarlett. They look out at the beach, the flames stopping at the sand while the trees finish burning. Smoke is covering the arena, even over the water. All the animals have disappeared, but he's not quite sure where they could have gone. He's looking up at the sky when Scarlett nudges his unburnt arm. Marvel is running towards the girl waist deep in the water.

"She's not paying attention." Scarlett whispers.

"They finally got you out of the fucking trees? No one has seen you. Have you even killed anyone?" Marvel yells as he stabs her in the back with his long knife, going through her kidney and coming back out the front. He pulls it out just as fast then pushes her down in the water. "I'm amazed you survived this long blondie."

The other two make it to where Marvel is. Cato is glad there's one less person, but Michael isn't quite as happy. He pushes at the bigger Tribute and starts to cuss at him. They start to fight, but all Cato does is back up. Marvel traps him in a hold with him bent over, the larger arm around his neck to cut off his air supply. Scarlett grabs onto Puck's arm, finger nails digging into his burn. He can't even feel the pain anymore since too much is going on at once. She squeezes and looks at Caroline. The blonde stands up in the water, clutching her stomach but Cato can't see her behind Marvel.

She jumps on his back, revealing a knife in her hand as she stabs it into his shoulder. Michael is released, but it's too late. A canon fires. She tries to do the same thing to Marvel as he just did with her District partner, but he starts to back up to the Cornucopia and slams her back into it. She screams out in pain, tossing out some swear words to Marvel. He picks her up by her hair then slams the side of her head into the solid gold again. He laughs at her and pulls out the knife, tossing it into her lap. Cato laughs and sits on the ground as Marvel walks back towards the beach. The girl is still sitting in the water, but she grabs the knife and throws it at the back of his head. Cato stands up once Marvel falls over and hits the water. He sees the knife sticking out of Marvel's head and he looks up nervously at the blonde. The girl coughs up blood then falls over in the water. Cato wipes his face, relieved that his life won't be ending any time soon because of her. Now there's only three tributes left. He looks around then glares into the trees where he saw Puck run.

"C'mon Puck! Scarlett! The Gamemakers brought us all together. Get out here, I _can't wait_ to kill both of you." Cato screams into the trees, laughing as he says it.

"Let's end this now." Puck growls and starts to walk onto the beach.

Scarlett runs behind him then manages to get in front of him, stopping him. She puts her hands on his chest. "Don't. You need to get home, let me handle this." Her eyes are pleading and tears threatening her eyes.

"You want me to let a woman fight the last battle for me? Please." He rolls his eyes.

Cato sneaks up stealthily behind Scarlett and grabs her, a knife threatening her throat. "Don't move Puck." He looks at him with an evil face and a smirk that is usually on Puck's face.

"Let her go Cato." Puck pulls out his machete.

"Or what?"

Puck advances but he cuts into her skin a little bit, drops of blood falling into the dip of her breasts. He stops and so does Cato. Scarlett whimpers and tries to move but he grips her tighter.

"Where are you going sweetheart?" Cato whispers into her ear. Scarlett starts to cry and move around, but he grips her tighter, pushing the knife into her skin without it actually cutting her.

Puck does the only thing he can think of while Cato's distracted whispering into her ear. He tackles the both of them, though he loses his machete in the process. They all fall to the ground and he feels Cato's knife cut into his other arm. Scarlett gets up and tries to crawl away, but Cato grabs her leg. He laughs while he pulls her back towards him then stabs her in the stomach. He pulls it out then stabs it back in, hoping she'll bleed to death fast. Puck is struggling trying to grab Cato to make him stop.

"You _fucking_ asshole." Puck stands up feeling his adrenaline pumping. He only sees red and the blood rushing through his ears. He pulls Cato into a choking hold, but gets elbowed in the stomach.

Puck loses his breath and falls back onto the ground. Cato is crawling away trying to look for the machete that was dropped just moments earlier. He looks over and sees what the blonde is going for. He crawls after him and pulls his leg and punches his thigh. It was a weak attempt at stopping him but it worked. Cato reaches back and kicks Puck in the chest. He manages to straddle the blonde's torso and punches him repeatedly in the face. His slightly violent history is starting to creep back into his veins from when he would bully kids after his dad died.

They roll around in the sand while they punch and kick each other where they can reach. Cato elbows him in the face and breaks Puck's nose. Cato scrambles to stand up, Puck doing the same after a second and wipe blood off on their sleeves. Cato grabs the knife that Scarlett had off the ground and throws it at Puck's chest. It lands in his ribs and he's sure it punctures his lung. There's still some fire that's dying down then it starts to rain. The Gamemakers are trying to make it more interesting. Puck rips off the sleeve of his good arm and pulls out the knife quickly, but ties the sleeve tightly around the puncture wound. He coughs up a bit of blood and wipes it off with his right hand.

"Come on! Or are you done?" Cato laughs and spits out blood that collected in his mouth.

_I'm not dying like this. Not to this asshole._ Something inside him snaps. He looks over to Scarlett's body, blood still seeping out and making the sand around her red. Then he thinks of Rachel and how she'd be watching this guy try and make him look like an idiot. He glares at the blonde, the smile on his face but all his teeth are red from the blood. The guy glares at him, but he just smirks in moves quickly and tackles Cato to the ground and punches him several times in the ribs, feeling a few of them break under his fist. He pulls him up and knees him in the stomach, making Cato lose his breath.

Cato moves forward, trying to get away from Puck. He feels weak and he's trained for this most of his life. The guy who is trying to kill him doesn't even look like he's tired but full of more energy, even with a punctured lung. He's not paying attention and Puck comes up behind him, turning him around and pushing his back against the burning tree trunk. Cato screams out and starts to push at Puck, failing miserably.

"Get the fuck off me asshole!" Cato gives a strong push and falls to the ground. He tries to pull off his suit, but the back of it is melted into his back. Tears are threatening his eyes, but he takes a deep breath to will the thought of it away.

Puck is on the ground and pulls up his burned arm up, only to find it's full of sand now. He groans and looks over to Cato. The guy managed to roll onto his back, filling his burn with sand now too. Puck is breathing heavily, which is making everything in his lungs worse. The bandage he managed to put around his ribs is starting to fall off. Puck gets up, knowing he has to end this now. Picking up Cato he turns the blonde around in his arms and sets his right hand on the left jaw in front of him. He whispers in his ear, "This is for Scarlett."

Before Cato can process it, Puck snaps his neck and pushes him to the ground. He puts his hand on his wound, but he's coughing up too much blood to feel it make a difference. He looks over at Scarlett's body. The adrenaline is fading and all he can feel is pain. He figures he missed her canon while he was busy beating the shit out of Cato. He pats his side, feeling the silver parachute holding the pearls he got from the oysters last week, then drags himself to the closest tree. He's breathing heavier and everything is getting fuzzy. Puck falls over into the sand and barely hears the sound of trumpets filling the arena.


	14. Chapter 14

**I don't own Glee or The Hunger Games. All mistakes are mine though.  
><strong>

_Thanks for all the alerts and reviews. You guys are awesome. I have an idea for a possible sequel/continuation for this story. Would anyone be interested in it? Please let me know :) Enjoy!_

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><p>Puck wakes up in a sterile white room. He honestly thought he would have never woken up again. He remembers the last few moments in the arena. Cato's dead body in front of him, the red sand underneath Scarlett's body, the rain falling down onto his body and the heat from the burning trees radiating onto his skin. Puck shakes his head and looks to his right arm. Tubes are sticking out of it and he sees the silver parachute sitting on a small table against the wall. Nothing hurts like it did in the arena. The burn on his left arm isn't there, looking like he never got it in the first place and his lungs don't feel like they're filled with fluid anymore. But his body feels so tired, so he just closes his eyes and goes to sleep again. His head rolling to the left on the fluffy pillow underneath his neck.<p>

A few hours later, he wakes up, his eyes squinting up at the bright white lights of the room. This time he notices that there are restraints on his ankles and over his torso. He's too tired to care what they're for. He tries to swallow but his mouth is dry. A Capitol attendant walks in through the door with a tray. The young woman sits on the edge of his bed and begins to feed him the clear broth that's in the bowl. He hesitates at first, wondering if it's been poisoned so that he'll die. But the thirst is overtaking his thought process. He sips it slowly and the attendant smiles at him. When the small amount of broth, really why didn't they give him more, he's literally starving now that he had some, she makes him sip some water through a straw. She breaks apart a tiny piece of bread and feeds it to him.

"Thank you." He croaks out. The attendant just smiles at him and gets up to walk away. Puck's about to say something but the young woman leaves the room and he lays there. Are the restraints really necessary? His eyelids begin to droop, the warm broth making him sleepy.

The first time he has a nightmare since the arena, he's standing next to Scarlett by the Cornucopia.

_All of the tributes that died are standing in front of them. They've been mutated to look like dogs, or something that could equal the size of a bear that he's seen in books that can stand up to seven feet tall. He recognizes Cara and Mason instantly. Dark fur and grey eyes, teeth snarling at them. Scarlett moves behind him and he throws his arms out from his sides, trying to find a way to protect them both._

"_Puck, I'm scared. There can only be one winner. They're going to keep coming towards us until there's only one left." _

"_Well I'm sure as fuck not killing you so they can try as much as they want to." _

"_There's another way to handle this." _

_He turns around and looks at her like she's grown another head. Or maybe fur like the rest of the tributes that are now standing behind him. She smiles and pulls out her knife, quickly stabbing him in the heart. His hand comes up to the handle, but he can hear the other tributes walking in the water towards him. _

"_I'm sorry Puck, but it's not fair that you have so much to go home to. You were never going to win. Finnick and Emma told me to stay with you till the end and then kill you while you sleep." She shrugs. _

_Scarlett shoves at his chest until he falls into the water. She climbs up the Cornucopia, watching the tributes rip apart his flesh until the canon fires and the trumpets fill the arena, to let all the viewers know that she won._

Puck wakes up, thrashing around in his bed but the restraints are holding him back. His left arm manages to get free and he starts to pull at his restraints. When that doesn't work, he starts to pull out the tubes from his arm. Fluids are dripping to the floor along with his blood. Two Capitol attendants run in, pinning his left arm down. "RACHEL!" He screams out. All he needs is her arms around him. He moves around, elbowing the guy in the face and trying to push away the girl that fed him the other day. Or was it today? He doesn't even know what day it is or how long it's been since he was in the arena. Puck really starts to freak out until the girl gives a sympathetic look before injecting him with something. He looks over at the syringe poking out of his arm before everything turns fuzzy and he's asleep again.

The next time he wakes up, there's nothing in his arms anymore but he sees food sitting next to his parachute. There are pants and a shirt on the end of the bed waiting for him too. He stands and puts the pants on, buttoning them while he walks to the food. There's a mirror and he looks at himself. His muscles are still there but he looks thin with bags under his eyes. There isn't much food. A small piece of bread, an apple and oatmeal. He eats it quickly, wanting to get out of this room, but the second he's done he almost throws it up. Stomach must have shrunk while he was in the arena. Stuffing the parachute into his pocket, he throws on the shirt and steps into the hall. He looks from side to side, there's hardly any guards. One notices him and points to an elevator.

He looks at all the buttons and figures he'll press 4 just to be safe. As it shoots up, he notices that he passes the training area. The Training Center. The hospital must be underneath everything, so pushing 4 was probably a smart idea. Out of habit, he walks towards the dining area, not even feeling like he spent the last, however long it's been, in some hell hole of a white room. He sees Quinn talking with Emma and Brittany, no sign of Finnick though. Brittany is the first person to see him and she lets out a high pitched scream then runs towards him.

Feeling happy to see her, he picks her up and spins her around in a circle. "Puck! I'm getting so dizzy."

He sets her down and she tips over slightly so he steadies her. "Brittany." He smiles, not knowing what to even say.

Emma stands and walks over. "We're glad to see you." She kisses his cheek and leaves her hand on the other, smiling proudly.

"Where's Finnick?" He looks around then lands on Quinn's eyes.

"He has some business to attend to." She smiles at him, proud that her first official year in the Games, her Tribute wins.

Puck looks down, desperately wanting to see his best friend. He would never admit that, but he really just wants to see someone that he was fighting so hard to get back to. But then he sees Brittany and grabs her hand. They got close the week before he left for the arena. It's clear to him now that she was one of the people he was desperate to get back to.

"We need to get you ready for the interview tonight. They'll be showing a recap of the Games." She smiles sadly at him but then pulls him towards his room.

He looks at the bed and lays down on it, sighing in how much more comfortable it is than the one he woke up on. Puck looks over at Brittany who is hesitating to lay down next to him. He smiles and pats the part next to her.

"There won't be much to do to get you ready. We'll just get you shaved, face and hair, a shower and that's about it. Your suit tonight will look really good. They took great care of your skin after your surgery."

"My surgery?"

"Do you not remember your last day in the arena?"

"Oh, my lung. How long has it been since I was there?"

"A week. But no worries." She smiles and stands up, holding out her hand to help him up as well.

"Brittany, where's Finnick?"

She bites her lip. "He'll explain to you later. You'll see him before the viewing though. Now into the shower!" Brittany points to the shower and gives him the meanest glare she can.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Of course."

He takes out the parachute and puts it in her hand. "Can you get these made into necklaces for me? There were three the last time I saw them."

"Yes! I'll get to work on that while you're in the shower. I'll lay out your clothes. See you in a bit."

Puck smiles at Brittany and goes into the shower. He stands under the hot water and lets the scrubs and soaps run down his body. His muscles ache from being in a bed for a week even though he doesn't remember it. Rubbing his temple, he shuts off the shower and steps onto the mat so he can be instantly dried off. He looks into the mirror, looking at his torso a little more. There's a faint scar from where the knife entered his ribs. They could get rid of the burn but not this scar on his side? He walks back into the room and on his bed lays a light green button up shirt with some black pants and boots. He shrugs but rolls up the sleeves.

Once he steps into the Training Center, he sees the make shift stage that has been built. There's a big crowd in the bleachers and he can see Caesar Flickerman's powder blue hair talking to Quinn and Emma. He's just ready to be home. Brittany and Finnick are walking up to him, holding hands, both are smiling.

"Hey Puckerman." Finnick holds out his fist to Puck.

He bumps it back. "About time you showed your face around here." Finnick's smile falters slightly, but he instantly smirks.

"Well I've been busy thanking sponsors."

Brittany clears her throat. "I love this color on you Puck. It really brings out the green in your eyes." She smiles and fixes his collar then runs her fingers over the sleeves where he rolled them up. "Very casual."

He smiles at her and looks back at Finnick. His best friend looks tired, staring at the floor. His shoulders are sagging forward. Normally he looks fine, but he can see just how much stress he goes through during the Games. Emma walks over, looking tired as well but nowhere near as much as Finnick. She straightens her shoulders and looks him up and down.

"You look lovely Puck. But you better make your way up to the stage, we'll be starting soon."

The girls hug him and Finnick just smirks at him. They all make their way to the front row seats in the crowd while he walks to the chair by Caesar.

"Puck! It's great to see you again." He shakes his hand.

"You too." Puck smiles at Caesar and sits, crossing his leg and putting his right arm on the back of the chair so he's facing Caesar slightly.

"Are you nervous?"

_Yes._ "Nope." He pops the 'P' and sits back.

"Good." Caesar sits back in his chair then looks at the man counting down on his fingers. "Welcome everyone! We're here with our Victor, Puck from District 4!" He looks at Puck. "Now tell us, what is the best part about being done?"

"I can sleep in a bed and eat real food." He jokes. Guilt is still weighing down on his shoulders but he tries to act like it doesn't matter. "I'm just ready to get back home to my girl and family."

"What's her name?"

"Rachel." He smiles and thinks about the necklace sitting around his neck.

"I'm sure she is going to be _very_ excited to see you in a few days. Now, we're going to be showing the recap of the Games, so get comfortable."

Puck snuggles into his chair and just stares at the screen. This might be the longest three hours of his life, having to relive everything from the Games. The first hour is showing everything from his first week in the Capitol. His costume from opening day, him and Scarlett walking around from the different training tables set up (he feels like he's going to throw up during that part) then the moment that he steps into the glass. Of course they didn't show when Brittany was kissing his necklace or hugging him goodbye. Then he sees how fast he runs to the Cornucopia, leaving everyone else so much further behind him. What seemed like at least fifteen minutes of standing there in the actual Arena, looks like seconds in the recap. Scarlett running up next to him then her sending out two arrows till they're running into the trees.

At some point when they're watching the two of them in the shelter towards the end of the recap, Puck leans forward with his elbows on his knees. Periodically it shows his reactions, most of his just show his eyebrows raised or a slight smirk. But when it gets to the point where Cato has stabbed Scarlett, his hands are clasped together, his knuckles turning white, his facial reaction in the right hand of the screen is deadly. The recap freezes and he sits up, confused then looks to Caesar. There's a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, but Caesar nor anyone else can see it.

"Okay Puck, now we have something to tell you but we're not sure how you'll react."

"What is it?" He looks at the powder blue makeup on his eyelids and lips then over to Finnick, Brittany, Emma, and Quinn. They're still smiling like nothing is wrong.

"Now, when we declared you the winner and the hovercraft picked you up, Scarlett's body started to convulse."

"But, that would mean…" He sits up straighter. Surely Cato's canon meant that Scarlett had died too, right?

"It seems that she didn't die in the arena like we thought she did. They pulled her up and she pulled through her injuries."

"So…" He tries to form words but it's just not happening. He looks over to Finnick nervously.

"Scarlett is also the Victor of the 74th Hunger Games!" He claps happily. "Everyone, please welcome out Scarlett Hudson!"

Puck's neck snaps to the right where he sees her walking out. She's wearing high heels and a bright blue dress. He stands up and stares at her. Her smile instantly brightens and she runs over to him and squeals out his name. He picks her up and spins her around.

"I'm so glad you're safe." He hugs her tightly again and whispers into her ear.

They walk back to his chair with his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Another chair has been brought out for her so he lets her sit down first then he takes his spot back on his. Caesar rotates in his chair so he's completely facing the two teens.

"How does it feel to be reunited?" His face lights up as he stares at the two teens in front of him.

Scarlett turns towards him and smiles. Puck clears his throat and speaks up. "I didn't know anything when I woke up. The last thing I remembered from the arena was seeing her on the ground thinking she was…" He can't say it.

"Dead?" Caesar says sadly.

"Yes. Then I passed out."

"I just remember waking up in a hospital room and looking around. Puck wasn't anywhere so I thought him and Cato had killed each other. That I just barely survived to be the winner or something." She looks down embarrassed.

"What's wrong dear?" His voice concerned.

"Oh nothing. Puck took care of me in the arena, so I felt guilty until I was standing off stage and saw that he was fine." She smiles.

"How very sweet!" Caesar smiles. The crowd lets out a unified "aw". "Well let's finish watching the recap. Then we can let you two go to the big party at President Snow's mansion!"

They both sit back and it resumes where Cato is stabbing Scarlett. Her hand finds Puck's and she squeezes tightly. She's cringing every time he gets hit and at one point she wipes away a tear. He's just staring at the screen, looking at how angry he is. The crowd is gasping and he thought he heard a woman scream when the knife punctures his lung. His right hand rubs that spot on his ribs without him realizing that he did it.

The trumpets pulls him back to the present and it shows the hovercraft pulling them both up then it cuts to the Capitol seal. Scarlett releases his hand and apologizes quietly. He smiles at her then looks over at Caesar.

"Now, it's time to get you your crown." He stands up and looks at the one crown that is sitting on top of a pillow. He furrows his brow and twists it so it becomes two. "Ah ha! Here you both go." He places one piece on each of their heads and congratulates them one more time.

They walk off the stage and Puck turns to say something to Scarlett, but Cinna runs over and pulls her away. "Must get ready for the party!" He yells back at Puck.


	15. Chapter 15

**I do not own Glee or The Hunger Games. All mistakes are my own. **

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><p>Puck walks into this elaborate mansion with Finnick next to him. The large dining room has tables upon tables filled with food. Anything that might have resembled a dining room was gone. There are random fluffy chairs situated around different smaller tables that anyone can sit and relax in. The two of them walk around, sampling different foods until the room falls quiet. Scarlett enters wearing an emerald green dress and her hair in a curly mess up on top of her head matching Emma's. After the initial shock, the crowd goes back to talking and eating. They join the guys, drinking some white wine.<p>

"You look nice Puck." Scarlett says quietly, looking around.

Brittany dressed him up in nicer shoes and a suit with a bright blue shirt on. No tie again. "Thanks. You look beautiful."

She blushes and Finnick offers her his hand so they can join some other people dancing in the middle of the room. Puck follows Finnick's lead and asks Emma to dance.

"Are you having fun Puck?"

"Sure. The food is great, but when do we go back home?"

"The day after tomorrow. They want the two of you to do another interview the day we leave but there's a meeting tomorrow. About adjusting back to everything I think. Quinn would know more about it though. Everything is a bigger deal since two people won."

"I see."

Quinn interrupts them and smiles. "Puck, Emma, I would like for the two of you to meet Sue Sylvester." She's a tall woman with blonde hair who's wearing a suit. "She is in charge of designing the new Arena for the Quarter Quell."

"How nice to meet you." Emma smiles and shakes Sue's hand. Puck thinks she must have the acting down very well.

"Nice to meet you too. Congratulations on the win Puck. Though it is a shame having to share all the glory."

Puck channels deep inside to be the same character he showed on the day of his interview. "I don't mind it so much. I still get my own house." He smirks and offers his hand.

"Very true. I like your attitude." She smirks as well then puts her hands behind her back.

"Sue, has the construction for the Arena for the Quarter Quell been started?" Quinn asks, actually curious about it.

"Yes it has. We started on it a few months ago. It's going to be something that hasn't been done before. Everyone is very excited. Especially President Snow."

"How so?" Quinn smiles brightly at her.

"Now now Miss Fabray, I can't discuss those things. But I'm sure if you think back to all of the other Games and Quarter Quells, you'll surely see there's something that hasn't been done." Sue winks at all of them.

As if on cue, President Snow makes his way over with Scarlett on his arm and Finnick on his other side. It's an odd site and Scarlett looks scared. Puck thinks that her bright blue eyes should never look scared after winning.

"Puck, I was just telling Scarlett here that I haven't gotten a chance to tell you congratulations. She is so lovely. And a very good dancer." President Snow smiles and Puck is wondering if he's the only one who smells something metallic, like blood coming from the President.

She blushes and moves to stand next to Emma. Probably the person she feels most safe with. Puck looks at the President and holds out his hand. "Thank you sir."

"If you have a moment, I would love to talk to both you and Finnick in my office."

Quinn and Emma frown slightly while Scarlett just looks at Puck worried. Finnick just nods. "Of course President. We'll see you lovely ladies in a few minutes." He kisses Quinn on the cheek. Puck looks at him oddly then follows the tall man with bright white hair into a long hallway. It would be easy to get lost in this man's house.

They enter a big office and the tall man sits down behind a desk, pulling out a bottle of alcohol. "Please, sit." He motions to two big leather, ornate chairs. Puck sits hesitantly while Finnick sits there, like he's done it a million times before, casually taking the glass that Snow has pushed forward. Finnick puts an arm up on the back of the chair and reclines into it. "I would like to discuss a…" He looks to Finnick then over to Puck, "Business deal of sorts to you."

Puck looks over to his best friend and has noticed that his shoulders are tense and he's become pale. He looks back at the man behind the desk, seeing that Finnick won't really be of any help. "What kind of deal sir?"

"Please, take your drink." He smiles. Puck takes a small drink, it's much more powerful than anything else he's tried. "Now, I must say that you are one of the more attractive tributes that we've had since Finnick here won the Games. Don't get me wrong, we have had plenty have attractive ones come through, but they sadly didn't make it." He makes a sad face and takes a sip of his drink. Puck feels sick and he smells something extremely sweet. Maybe it's the rose sitting on the lapel of President Snow's jacket.

"Thank you sir." Puck isn't sure if this is what he's supposed to say or not.

"With that said, the business deal." They both look to Finnick who is finishing his drink then placing the glass down. "Would you like some more?" He shakes his head no. "Alright then. I would like to offer you the opportunity to, well serve your Capitol. Many sponsors would like to talk to you in private, about the Games. But only those who will pay top dollar will get to meet you."

"No." Finnick says quietly, his voice hoarse.

"No?" President Snow looks at him.

"I won't allow it. Let me take his place. I'll come to the Capitol more frequently than just the Games. One week a month or whatever you like. Just, let him stay in District 4."

"Puck, would you like to take my offer?"

He looks between the President and Finnick. "I'm not sure I understand what the deal is, sir."

"He doesn't accept it." Finnick stands up abruptly and places his hands on the desk in front of him, looking at President Snow. "I'll double up the work. We can talk with Quinn to set something up for when the Victory Tour is over and we come back to the Capitol for dinner."

President Snow smiles and nods. "That will do. Please enjoy the rest of your evening gentlemen. Finnick, I do believe you have an appointment in fifteen minutes. And congratulations Puck. Make sure you have a dance with Scarlett."

They both nod and once they're in the hallway away from the large office, Puck pushes Finnick to the side. "What the fuck was that about man? When are you going to tell me what kind of fucking business deals you're doing?"

"Tonight. I'll come to your room after my appointment. But I have to go catch a car to get there."

Finnick walks away and Puck is standing there. Once his friend isn't in his view, he makes his way into the large dining room and pulls Scarlett into a dance needing something resembling any sense of normal. Who is he kidding, nothing here is anything close to normal.

"What was that about?" She looks up at him as he looks at the wall.

"Nothing. Have you had any dessert?"

"I have, but did you notice the small glasses next to the table?"

He grunts out a no then looks down at her. "It makes you vomit so you can eat more food. I was about to drink one when Cinna and Brittany told me not to, unless I needed it."

"That's gross."

She lets out a giggle. "Yes, it is. When do you think we can leave? I'm so tired." She leans her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat.

He looks around and spots Emma. "Let's go see if we can leave now."

An hour later they're all piling into the elevator, without Finnick, and heading up to their floor. Scarlett smiles at them all then goes to her room. They all file off until Puck is standing with Brittany.

"Do you think I could talk to you?" Brittany nods so he leads her to his room. She's wearing a floor length gown that almost matches the color of a peach with feathers by her breasts. "Do you want to change or something?" He rubs the back of his neck.

"Yes please."

He looks around in the closet and spots a shirt then pulls out a pair of boxers then tosses them at her. He makes his way to the bathroom where he pulls on some loose cotton pants and an under shirt.

"Are you decent?"

He hears a muffled yes from the other side of the door. Her gown is on the chair but she still has her jewelry on. Puck lays down on the bed and motions for her to do the same. Brittany lays on her side with her hands under her cheeks looking at him.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"First off, why didn't you guys tell me Scarlett survived?"

She sighs. "They wanted to tell you guys like a reunion. See if you two planned it that way or something. But with the way you two reacted they know it wasn't like that."

"Why not just leave her in the arena?"

"Everyone saw her body convulse on the screens Puck. They couldn't change that. It may be the Hunger Games, but they won't want everyone to call them murderers." Puck snorts and she smiles lightly. "I know, but at least she's here. What did President Snow want to talk about?"

"Wanted to offer me a business deal like Finnick has." He rolls onto his back and stares at the ceiling.

Brittany sits up abruptly and looks to him. "What?" She half shouts.

He flinches and props himself up on his elbows. "What? Finnick refused to let me do it, whatever _it_ is. Saying he'll come up to the Capitol like once a month and then whenever he has to come in for the Games."

She crosses her legs and looks at Puck. Her eyes look concerned and her brows furrowed. A tear falls down her face.

"Brittany, what's wrong?" He sits up and looks at her, crossing his legs too.

A knock at the door startles them and Finnick walks in. He looks more exhausted than usual and walks straight to the bathroom, stripping off his clothes as he goes. Puck is a little shocked and looks at Brittany. She shakes her head and walks to the bathroom after him.

"Can you grab some clothes for him?"

She closes the door gently and he goes to the closet. He can hear them talking quietly behind the door.

"Finnick, what happened?"

"I'll explain out there. He needs to hear it all anyways." The shower turns on.

"Do you need help?"

"I got it this time, thank you though."

Puck grabs a shirt and underwear, tosses them onto the bed and sits back to how he was when Brittany was still on the bed with him. She walks back out and brushes away a tear from her cheek. Once she's seated on the bed, he pulls her close and hugs her. She giggles and says thank you. Finnick walks out, a towel around his waist then drops it, putting on underwear. Puck looks away, thinking he's seen entirely way too much of his best friend. Finnick looks at the shirt but tosses it away, laying down on the bed between Puck and Brittany on his back.

"What the fuck is going on man. And why do you have bruises all over you?"

Finnick looks to Brittany and she nods encouragingly, holding his hand. "Remember that deal Snow offered you?"

"Yeah." He looks to Brittany.

"The Capitol gets bids from women. Whoever pays the top dollar that day or the top price every few hours, gets to sleep with me."

"You're like a sex—"

"Don't finish that sentence." Finnick looks at him pointedly.

"They could be watching or listening." Brittany says so quietly that he has to strain to hear her.

"But yes. When I was crowned the Victor of my Games, Snow said in two years he would come to offer me a deal. I didn't think anything of it when I got home, just excited to see my family again." He pulls his hand from Brittany's and rubs them both down his face, staying there once he's done. The next part comes out rather quickly. "Well when I turned 16 in the Capitol during the Hunger Games, Snow approached me the night after the ceremony. Offered me the deal, saying I could protect my family this way. I didn't take him seriously, blew him off. Nothing was said to me during the Games. But remember what happened after the Games?" Finnick looks over at him.

Puck remembered that while Finnick was away, his family went on a trip. But they never came back.

He laughs sarcastically and grips Brittany's hand. "I couldn't wait to get back home to Beth. I wanted to see my parents to celebrate." Tears form in his eyes. "They were just gone. My house was so empty. Everything was gone except for Beth's favorite toy. She would never go on a trip without it. When I could take her to the Capitol, she brought it. That's when I knew that something was wrong. Snow was serious. He took away my family."

Brittany pulls him into her and rubs her fingers through his hair. She had tears streaming down her face as well. Puck remembers how Finnick pulled away from everyone that year for months. He wouldn't leave his house. Emma was always taking food over to his house but never staying long. Beth, his little sister was barely ten. The same age as Sarah, the two were best friends. Sarah wasn't too sad about Beth leaving. The little girl had told her that they were going to the Capitol to visit Finnick and that they might be staying for a long time. Sarah eventually thought that they forget about all of them there and moved on.

"I won't let them do that to you. Everyone is still in danger, but you have a family."

"You have a family. We're all your family, you know that."

"Yeah, but I can't lose you guys. I knew that if he tried to make you do that, it would end up the same. We would both be hurting if that happened."

It all clicked. "That's why you can't be with Santana."

"Rules. Can't have a relationship." He rolls onto his stomach, facing Puck. Brittany lays beside him and rubs his back while she looks over at Puck too. "You wouldn't believe some of the things that they ask. And you've seen people from the Capitol. Alterations, different colors, whiskers, teeth. You thought girls in 4 were frisky? So wrong." Puck's eyes roam over his body, all the bruises and the faint marks that he saw before the Games. "Yeah, those are from women." Finnick yawns. "Can I sleep here?"

Puck nods and looks over at Brittany who has fallen asleep during the last sentence. He grabs a blanket and pulls it over all of them. Finnick instantly falls asleep, snoring lightly. Puck leans against the headboard and looks at the messy bronze hair and Brittany's straight blonde hair. Then he notices they both have a small feather tattoo behind their right ear. Both are covered by their hair when they're standing, but it's not strange for people in the Capitol to have tattoos. Puck sighs and starts to think. For so long, she's been his only ally when he comes to the Capitol, but he works so hard to keep her safe. To keep him, Rachel, Santana and Sarah safe. He'll never be able to pay Finnick back for everything. Or Brittany for that matter.


	16. Chapter 16

**I don't own Glee or the Hunger Games.**

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><p>Puck wakes up and hears Finnick snoring. He looks over to his best friend and notices that the bruises on his back have turned a deep purple. The bathroom door opens and he looks over at Brittany. She changed into some shorts and a shirt that she must have gotten from her room while they were still asleep. He sits up while she just leans against the dresser looking at Finnick's back.<p>

"I got your necklace back." Brittany looks over at him and pulls out a small box.

He walks over then opens up the box and sees a delicate necklace sitting there with a pearl hanging off it. Two other pearls are sitting off the side. "This looks great. Why are the other ones sitting there?"

"They couldn't get them into necklaces. Too small, they probably couldn't be made into rings either. They're still beautiful though."

Puck considers this and sets the box on the dresser. "Thank you for doing that."

She nods and they stand in silence while Brittany looks at Finnick's back again. "It's really bad." She whispers.

"Is it always like this?" He somewhat whispers back. His only guess as to why they're whispering is she's scared he'll hear them.

"Sometimes."

"I owe you a lot. For taking care of him." Puck looks to Brittany.

"Like I said, we take care of each other when he's here."

"How does he deal with it?"

"At times he'll just drink until he can't remember and fall asleep in my bed, other times he just accepts it for what it is. You wouldn't believe some of the things they ask him to do."

"Like what?"

"Imagine the worst thing you've ever done with a girl or the most personal thing you've done with one, or Rachel." She pauses and takes a deep breath. "Then imagine doing it to someone you don't even know who makes you do it."

"It's not that bad." Finnick mumbles from the bed, still face down in the pillow.

Puck clears his throat and goes into the bathroom. There's muffled talking on the other side, but he tries to ignore it. If they want him to know, they'll just tell him. Right? He feels like an idiot for arguing with himself so he pushes buttons on the shower and steps into the scalding hot water, not even caring that it feels like his skin is burning off. It reminds him of the burn he got in the arena. He gets out and dries off, not wanting to think about anything hot on his skin.

Once he gets back into the room, Brittany is gone and Finnick is sitting there with a bunch of food on a tray. He smirks at Puck with the towel wrapped around him. He rolls his eyes at Finnick then goes to the closet, changing quickly.

"How'd you sleep?"

Puck stares at him. "Fine. No nightmares about Clove tonight." He shrugs.

"Well, good." He stuffs some bacon into his mouth and moans.

"What would I be dealing with if I was in that business deal. Like you are."

"Brittany told you."

Puck can tell he's trying to get out of the conversation. "She told it from a girl's point of view. How about you just tell me and cut all the bullshit."

Finnick pushes the tray away and turns to Puck. "Want to know why I have bruises from last night?" Puck nods. "It was a small party. They were all horny and it started out how it usually does. We all have a few drinks, the kissing starts. I was with the host in her bedroom, but then girls started to come in, while I was busy with her. Anyways, a few of them started to get rough. Slapping, scratching, biting." He looks away from Puck. "I had to have sex with all of them. It's what they wanted. When I was finished with one, I would have to move onto the next. One asked me to finish on her face. Another wanted fingers in…areas I wouldn't have wanted to put them otherwise."

"W-what?" He stutters and stares at Finnick.

"Yeah."

Puck watches as Finnick goes into the bathroom. This could've been his life if Finnick didn't save him. Not being able to be with Rachel? His stomach clenches and he takes a deep breath. Finnick reappears a few minutes later and grabs clothes out of Puck's closet. He sits down and looks Puck in the eye.

"Anything else?"

"How do you do it? I mean, how do you get turned on?"

"I'm a guy Puck. You know how it works." He rolls his eyes and snatches another piece of bacon from the tray. "It's usually not so bad. There will be normal ones who just want company. Others just drink a bit too much, have sex and then I leave." He shrugs.

"Thanks, for taking more to just protect us all."

"Don't grow a vagina on me man." Finnick pulls the tray back and starts to eat again.

Brittany walks in wearing a tight black dress with only one shoulder having a strap and a small dip into her breasts. He was only a man and seeing her in that made his pants tighten. Then he realizes that he hasn't thought about sex at all until today. Noah Puckerman not thinking about sex. His head was seriously screwed up. He finally came back to reality and realized that Brittany and Finnick were staring at him.

"What?"

"Where was your head just now?" Brittany asked innocently.

"Um…" How do you tell your stylist that you were thinking about her dress on the floor while feeling guilty about having a fiancée after thinking of said dress? "Just thinking."

Finnick smirks at him and glances at Brittany who is looking around at various things in the room. "Right. Just thinking." He laughs and kisses Brittany's cheek. "Is my suit ready in my room?"

"It is. Tina is in there and she'll make sure it fits. She'll work on those bruises on your neck too." She rubs a finger along his neck and furrows her brows. She looks sad.

"I'm fine Britt. They don't hurt."

"Okay." She smiles and watches as he walks out of the room.

Puck stares at her light pink heels as she walks towards him. "So, what is this interview going to be about?" Why do her legs have to look so good? He shakes his head. _Fiancée. Just a bit longer. You can do this Puck._

"They'll just ask you and Scarlett a few questions. I don't think it'll be anything big. This one is a bit more casual than your past interviews. Then afterwards you'll be jumping on a train back to District 4!"

His eyes shoot wide open. "Really?"

"Yep." She says sadly.

Brittany walks over to the closet and pulls out the suit she put in there that morning while the guys were still sleeping. Puck is just watching as she pulls out the clothing and which socks that will match. It seems like this outfit is the more simple of the ones that she's done. Black pants, white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up (she seems to be a fan ever since the first time he did it), a black skinny tie and a black vest. Once she's done throwing his shoes onto the bed, she pulls him into the bathroom to cut his hair down again.

"What's wrong?" He looks up at her in the giant mirror that the Capitol seemed necessary to be in the bathroom.

"Nothing. Just sad that I won't see you guys until the Victory tour."

"You can't come with us?"

She thinks about it. "I've never really thought about if I could go with you guys or not. I could probably ask Quinn…"

Puck is getting dressed as she leans against the dresser. "You should. I'm sure you could stay with Finnick or Scarlett. Hell you could stay at my house if you really want. My sister would love you." He smiles.

"I can ask her during the interview. Oh, I hope she says yes!" Brittany claps and comes over to fix his tie.

* * *

><p>On the train back to District 4, Puck sits in one of the cars where he found big overstuffed seats. He sits back and props his feet up on the side of the window. They're going through a big tunnel that sets a barrier between the Districts and the Capitol. If he remembers correctly, the Capitol is located in an area that used to be called the Rockies.<p>

He's anxious to get home. Hug his little sister and his mom, kiss Santana's temple like he always does even though it's usually when he's walking away from her. He wonders if Matt is going to be working on the docks soon. Has Steve been doing fine without him? Or did he find someone new? Did he even watch the Games? If it were him who lost a son to the Games, the TV would probably stay off after the mandatory hour that has to be watched in the beginning. And Rachel. His eyes close and tips his head back. He'll get to feel her silky smooth skin again, run his fingers through her hair. He couldn't wait to kiss her until her lips were red and swollen. Would she be scared of him though? She probably watched the last fight and he looked like a crazed animal. All for a girl he didn't love.

Puck sits up and leans his elbows on his knees. Would Rachel be worried that something was going on between him and Scarlett? He didn't just go crazy on Cato at the end because of Scarlett. He was ready to get home, back into Rachel's arms. When did he become such a pussy?

He sits back and kicks up his feet again. Brittany managed to save his boat shoes and he never felt more comfortable than in his denim pants, a button up shirt and his shoes. She comes into town next week. Quinn wasn't sure about Brittany going to District 4, but since she was the stylist to two victors there, they decided that it shouldn't be a problem. She wanted to help them figure out their talent anyways.

Puck's talent. Every victor needed to have one. Finnick's business deal is his talent, pulling in large sums of money for the Capitol. Emma paints and most of her work gets sold at the Capitol. He wasn't sure what Annie or Mags did. The other victors who used to live in the village died from becoming addicted to drugs or just didn't care about their bodies anymore. What would his talent be though? Fishing was all he really knew. Maybe Brittany or Finnick could come up with something for him.

The leaves are changing colors while they fly on the tracks. It wouldn't take too much time to get back to their District. It'll be a bit cooler when they step off the train but it never really mattered to him. On the Victory Tour though, he'll probably go through different temperatures as they go around the other Districts. He remembers Quinn saying that they'll start in 3 then go all the way to 12, then going to 1,2 before they end back up in the Capitol for a large banquet. One of the best things about winning the Games though is that everyone will receive parcels filled with grain, oil and probably other food too. Sometimes they contain meat and candy. Sarah loved eating the candy when they would get their parcel each month since Annie won last year. His sister wouldn't have to worry about that anymore since he had more money than he knew what to do with.

A Capitol attendant comes into the room and clears his throat. "Puck? They're about to serve a light dinner then we'll be back in District 4."

"Thanks."

Puck follows the attendant into the dining room. Finnick and Emma are eating some greens with fruits and nuts on top. Quinn doesn't escort them back home but she'll be down in a few days for the dinner with the mayor then to make sure everything goes right when they move into their houses. Scarlett went into her room and stayed there. No one wanted to bother her since she seemed upset as soon as she stepped on the train. Puck could guess why she was hesitant about going back though. Her mother probably wouldn't show up and he wasn't sure about her best friend.

A salad is put in front of him and he eats it. He's still recovering from the arena, but they're trying to slowly stretch his stomach back out. If he eats too much, he gets dangerously close to puking everywhere. He wouldn't want to make anyone clean that up. Chicken and rice is placed in front of him next with some sort of gravy over the top of it. His portion is much smaller than Finnick's. But when he gets halfway through it, he groans and pushes it away, resting his head on the table.

"Still hurting?" Finnick asks after he sets aside his plate.

"Yeah. How long does it take to adjust again?"

"It may be another few weeks." Emma cuts in. She looks at him sympathetically. "Do you think Scarlett has even eaten?"

"If she did, the attendants know to give her small servings." Finnick leans back in his chair.

"I'll go check on her." Emma leaves and rubs Puck's shoulder as she goes.

Finnick seems to be thinking hard about something. There's a crease in between his eyebrows, his eyes distant. "What's up man?"

"Just thinking about the Victory Tour in a few months."

Puck furrows his eyebrows. "What about it?"

"Snow thinks it'll be a good time for me to start picking up more appointments. Quinn won't be happy with having to stay a bit longer in each District for me to…" His voice trails off and he looks out the window.

He sighs. "I can't believe you're doing this."

Finnick's neck snaps over and he glares at Puck. He's never seen his best friend look like that before. Not even in the arena. "What fucking choice do I have?" He doesn't offer anything else to the conversation, just crosses his arms over his chest and his knuckles turning white from his fist.

Scarlett and Emma come into the dining room just as the train slows down. He looks at her and notices she has bags under her eyes, clearly from washing off the makeup from interview earlier. Emma pulls something out from her bag that her prep team must have given her. She dabs it under Scarlett's eyes and the bags are instantly gone. But everyone is sitting silently, both Finnick and Scarlett being in bad moods, not knowing how to make anyone feel better, and he's just ready to be back in his own bed.

The train comes to a stop, both Finnick and Emma jumping up instantly. They move towards the doors and once it opens, he can see cameras flashing. It doesn't look like the same area where they left the Justice Building the day of the Reaping. Scarlett looks over at the door and wipes away a tear. Puck can tell that she's scared to see if anyone showed up for her, so he holds out his hand to help her up.

"Thanks Puck." She says quietly.

"No problem." He puts his hands on her shoulders and leads her out into the chaos.

Sadly, no one runs up to Scarlett. Emma is already hugging her husband and Finnick is standing off to the side. She moves her way over to him and he puts his arm around her, whispering something into her ear. Whatever he says, it makes her smile.

"NOAH!"

Puck looks towards the scream and sees Rachel smiling brightly at him. He can't help but grin. She runs towards him and launches herself onto him. Her legs wrap tightly around his waist and arms around his neck. He kisses her hard, Rachel's tongue slipping into his mouth. She's so warm against his body. She pulls away and kisses all over his face, putting her hands on either side of his face then kisses him again. He barely registers the flashes and people laughing until he puts her down. Sarah looks at him shyly and he stares at her until she runs over. Puck scoops her up and hugs her tightly, bringing his mom into his side, hugging her too. Sarah doesn't let go when Santana walks over.

Santana smirks at him and he hugs her, kissing her temple like he always does. He looks at her then over to Finnick before smiling gently at her. She gets the hint that it's okay if she goes to him. Finnick still has his arm around Scarlett, but when he sees Santana in front of him, he pulls her in for a tight hug, burying his face into her hair. It's clear to everyone that they love each other, but only Puck knows why he can't be with her. His stomach clenches at the thought of it.

"Alright, you need to get down squirt." Puck sets Sarah back on her feet and she looks at him sadly.

"Are you staying with us tonight or in your new house?"

"New house won't be ready just yet, so I'm staying with you." He smirks when his little sister's face brightens and she goes over to say hi to Finnick.

The cameras leave and soon it's just his family standing with Finnick and Scarlett. He can tell that Scarlett has been crying into Finnick's side, his shirt is wet and her eyes are rimmed with red and slightly puffy.

Finnick clears his throat. "How about we all have dinner at my house?" He looks at everyone.

Emily smiles. "I can cook if you'd like Finnick. Something homemade for all of you." She looks between all them and lands her eyes on Scarlett.

"Um, I should probably get home." She says uneasily as everyone stares at her.

"Remember what I told you?" Finnick nudges her and looks into her eyes. She nods slowly. "No backing out. I can call Brittany when I get home and she'll have some things sent down."

Puck furrows his brow, curious about what they're talking about until he feels Rachel's arms squeeze around his waist. "Noah? Dinner?"

They're all looking at him now. "Yeah, sounds good ma." He smiles at his mother then they all leave to head towards Finnick's house.

* * *

><p>Once they all arrive, they go in separate ways. Scarlett to the bathroom, Sarah and Santana go to the living room while Finnick goes to show his mom where everything is that she'll need. Quinn made sure that his house was stocked with groceries once he got home. Rachel pulls him toward the guest room upstairs away from everyone else. Puck automatically goes to the bed and lays down. Not as comfortable as the bed in the Capitol but better than the chairs on the train. His eyes close, exhausted from his day.<p>

"What are you thinking about?"

He feels the bed dip on either side of him, so he opens up one eye and sees that she's straddling his hips. His hands find them and he lets out a sigh before opening them. "I'm just glad to be home baby." He smiles.

She leans forward and kisses him lightly on the lips. Rachel can already feel that he's hard underneath her. "I missed you so much."

He feels her talking against his lips, but he can only think of the tear drop he feels that drops onto his cheek. Puck sits up and her legs wrap around his waist. He wipes away the tear and looks into her eyes, his large hands cupping her face. "I'm right here."

She sniffles and laughs at herself. "I'm just so glad you're back."

All he can think about after she says that is her body. He needs her. Desperately. His hands lift up her shirt then tosses it on the floor next to the bed. She picks up that he needs this so she runs her fingers up his chest, feeling even more muscle than before he left, even though he looks thinner. Not wanting to wait, he pulls his own shirt up and lays back down, relishing in the way she's touching his torso. Then he feels it. Her dainty fingers running against his right ribs, against the light scar from where he was stabbed. Puck sucks in a deep breath then rolls Rachel under him.

"Don't." He says quietly. "At least not yet. I can't…"

She just looks at him, her eyes searching his then pulls him down to kiss. He fumbles around, getting her shorts and underwear off. Rachel arches her back so he can easily pull them off then gets to work on his pants, pushing them down with her feet. She takes his length in her hands and strokes him a few times. He pushes her hand away.

"It's been too long. I just need to be inside you."

A small whimper comes from her mouth when he runs his fingers along her slit. He needs to stretch her a bit since it's been just as long for her. His mouth finds her nipple but releases a moan when he feels how tight she is. "I missed you so damn much Rach." He says quietly then tongues her hardened nipple. He bites lightly and teases her other one with his hand.

"Noah, please. I need you."

He nods and pulls out his fingers, licking off the juices with his tongue then leaning forward to kiss her. She moans into his mouth, sucking his tongue and tasting herself. He settles in between her thighs and gets his tip at her entrance. He pulls her legs up to wrap around his hips then slowly pushes into her. Rachel's head drops back and she moans. He sucks on a spot on her neck behind her ear.

"You're so tight." He moans into her ear until she starts to move a little underneath him, letting him know that she's ready.

Puck pulls back slightly and thrusts in a little too roughly. She whimpers and not in the good way. He puts his hand on her face, still balancing himself, and looks her into the eyes. "I'm sorry baby."

Rachel looks into his eyes, they're a little more dull and hazel then the bright green she saw before he left. She smiles at him. "Keep going." He knows she's trying so hard to be quiet.

He smirks and pumps into her, fast but not as hard. Rachel is groaning and trying not to say his name too loudly. His hands settle on her hips and thrusts faster. Fingernails are scraping down his back and digs into his shoulders as Rachel sucks on his collar bone. He can tell that she's close and he's trying hard not to bust his load too soon. His finger circles her clit and soon she's arching into him, her nipples brushing against his chest. She's clenching around him until he finally releases into her.

Trying to keep his weight off of her, he catches his breath. Rolling onto his back, Rachel traces her hand over his chest, right over his heart. Once they can breathe normally, giggling can be heard downstairs. Then all of a sudden they hear Sarah screaming "Noah help!" He groans and gets up to get dressed while Rachel does the same in the bathroom after cleaning up.

Puck makes his way downstairs to see that Finnick and Scarlett are tickling Sarah. Santana is on the couch laughing hysterically and his mother is in the doorway with her hand over her heart. He walks over to her and wraps her up in a hug.

"I missed you my dear son."

"Missed you too ma." He kisses her cheek.

"NOAH!" Sarah squeals and tries to crawl away, only to have Finnick pull her back and tickle her some more.

"Alright, alright. Leave her alone." He smirks and gets on the ground to crawl towards her.

Finnick gets up to sit next to Santana and Scarlett is on her back catching her breath. Sarah holds her arms out, thinking Puck will pick her up and save her, but he pulls her to him then starts to tickle her even harder. Scarlett gets up, not wanting to be dragged in and stands next to Emily. Rachel makes her way down the stairs and sees Sarah laughing with Puck. Finally he quits, gripping his ribs but still laughing. Everyone seems to get quiet and they all look at him.

Sarah moves towards him and puts her hand on top of his. "Are you okay Noah?" Everyone can tell she's scared.

"Yeah, just a little weak still." He pulls her on top of him and gives her a big hug. He stands up, pulling her up and drops her into Finnick's lap and sits next to Santana.

They all get busy again, Rachel and Scarlett helping Emily cook. Finnick is asking Sarah questions about school. But Santana turns to him, concern in her eyes. Puck rolls his and pulls her up to go to Finnick's office. He sits on the desk and she just stands in front of him. It was rare that she showed the caring side of herself, even with Finnick and Rachel. The two of them could always read each other well, that's why they just mixed right when it was only about sex between the two of them. He was glad to see that it didn't really change even after everything he's been through.

"Did it hurt? Just now."

"Yeah. Nothing bad, just strained it a little bit. Even with all the surgery and everything they have up there, it can't fix everything." He shrugs.

She nods then smirks. "You're lucky Finnick and Scarlett distracted your mom and Sarah. We could hear the bed moving upstairs."

"Fuck off. I couldn't even think about sex until the other day. It's the first time I've been able to get off."

Her eyes widen at this new information. "It's been like five weeks."

"I know!" He can already imagine having sex with Rachel again. His eyes close then takes a deep breath.

"Just wait till tonight. I'm sure she'll do anything you want her to."

At that moment, he sees that she wants to be with Finnick tonight. But his deal with the Capitol won't allow him to do that. And now it's going to become worse because of his engagement. His hand finds its way to the back of his neck and he rubs it. He can't tell Santana, but he does pull her into a hug. At first she hesitates, but then hugs him back.

"Glad you're back Puck." She smiles at him.

"Glad to be back." Santana looks around the room but he knows that she wants to ask if there's something going on between Finnick and Scarlett. "They're not together. She's upset because her mom and best friend didn't come to see her. Scarlett will be staying here until our houses are set up."

She looks at him and a small smile comes onto her face. "Good. And they're dumb. She already fits in with all of us."

Puck laughs and drags her back out to the living room after kissing her temple. The smell of beef and potatoes float through the air. Everyone is at the table when they walk in, waiting on them. Once they all begin eating, he moans in approval. But unlike the train, he doesn't monitor his servings sizes very well. Finnick looks at his plate and frowns, taking it away and replacing it with one that has less food on it. Puck glares but then appreciates it later. When he's done eating and everyone else is still working on their food, he leans back and looks at his family with the addition of Scarlett. He smiles happily then tips his head back to close his eyes.

* * *

><p><em>This was the last pre-written chapter that I had, so now I'll be writing chapter to chapter along with my other story. I'm not sure if I'm going to end this with the victory tour or if I'll keep going with the other idea I had. Anyways, hope you enjoy it!<em>


	17. Chapter 17

**I do not own Glee or The Hunger Games. All mistakes are mine though!  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Finnick feels someone kick him underneath the table. No one is looking over at him, giving him a courtesy look in case it was an accident, so he looks under and sees Puck's leg twitching. All the women are talking about things that have been going around the district, telling Scarlett everything that she's missed, so he focuses on his best friend. His face is scrunched up, a deep crease in between his eyebrows and there's a bit of sweat forming on his forehead. He knows what a nightmare looks like, he's witnessed enough with Annie and Emma. More with Annie by far. Finnick tries nudging Puck's leg with his, but it only causes him to make a whining sound. He knows it's about to get bad because his arm starts to twitch.<p>

"_CLOVE!" Cato calls off in the distance. _

"_Get the hell up, he's going to kill us." Mason looks down at him. Scarlett and Cara's bodies are next to him, lifeless. But then he sees Clove's lifeless eyes staring at him. _

"_How the fuck did this happen?" He shakes his head. _

"_Shit man, we gotta get going! Do you want to die?" When Puck doesn't move, Mason just moves his ass out from the vicinity. _

_He looks at all of their eyes, staring at him. Puck rocks back and forth, mumbling to himself. "Gotta get home to Rachel. That's all that matters. So pick your ass up Puckerman. Now." But he doesn't move. What is wrong with him? _

_Clove's hand reaches out to him. "She's going to kill you." _

"_Wh-what? You're dead!" He tries to scramble away from her but it doesn't work. _

"_Rachel. She'll kill you. You're a murderer. She'll never have kids with you. Will you kill your daughter? Watch her in the Games and watch her die like Scarlett? Don't you remember?" Her eyes fill with hatred. "You killed her when she tried to stab me in the heart." _

"_No I didn't. Mason killed you." _

"_So why is he alive and running off? Wouldn't you kill the man who killed your daughter?"_

"_You're not my daughter!" He pushes himself away from her. Clove's arm falls to the ground and she glares at him._

"_CLOVE?" Cato's yells are getting closer. _

"_He'll kill you. He loved me." She smiles and coughs up blood. _

"_You're not my daughter. It doesn't fucking matter." _

_All of a sudden, she's dead again. Cato comes into the clearing. They're two of four left. But a big explosion happens to the right of them. Puck stands up and starts to run with Cato hot on his heels, but then he's engulfed by flames, hearing the blonde screaming in agony behind him. Something is nudging his leg, looking down he sees Cato's body stabbing his thigh with his suit on fire. How did he not notice that he's running with dead weight on his leg? But a second later he's being carried towards the water. He looks up and sees a hovercraft. Why would the Capitol be helping him?_

"_Let me go!" He tries to move off the ladder, but just like before he left and got the tracker in his arm, he's frozen. _

Finnick stands up abruptly, pulling Puck over his shoulder and holding his thighs tight against his chest as he moves him over to the office. Everyone follows while Puck is thrashing around, pounding on Finnick's back. He drops him onto the desk, slapping his face until he finally wakes up. Puck pushes at his chest and takes deep breaths.

"Shit." Puck buries his face into his hands, breathing in the comforting smell of Finnick's office.

"Clove?" Finnick asks quietly.

Puck nods, worried about seeing Rachel and Santana's faces. Shit, what about Sarah? Has Scarlett even had any nightmares? She didn't see anyone that she killed up close. He was more fucked up than her. He had people's deaths on his hands, not as many as Finnick but still. Finnick. He looks up at his friend. Clearly worried, but Puck screwed his life up even more.

"Fuck." He mumbles out.

"I'll call Brittany. She's going to need to be here for when Scarlett starts to have hers. Emma won't be able to come over. Do you want to stay here tonight?"

"No." He says weakly. "I just want my bed."

Finnick nods and moves to the side to use the phone. Puck barely glances up to see Santana and his mom with tears in their eyes. Sarah is just hugging Scarlett, who looks horrified. And Rachel has tears running down her cheeks. His heart breaks at the sight in front of him. He just won the damn Hunger Games, how could this even be happening? He didn't kill Clove but she's the one who constantly haunts him. Why did he look into her eyes?

"Noah?" Rachel steps forward tentatively and reaches her hand out to him. He looks down at her hand and sees her engagement ring twinkling in the light. "Baby?"

Puck snaps his eyes up to hers and holds his hand out. She grabs it and launches herself onto him. She kisses his temple like only she knows when he's worried about something. Nothing no one knew about until now.

"Are you okay?"

"Yep." He kisses the side of her head and leaves it at that. Rachel can't know that he dreams about their little girl being in the Games, being killed off by him.

"Brittany will be here tomorrow. She also has clothes for you Scarlett." Finnick smiles and everyone retreats out of the room, leaving Rachel and Puck alone.

"Noah, what did you dream about?" She looks into his eyes, hating that they're not their usual mixture of hazel and green that she loves so much.

"Not now baby. I just can't."

"First your scar and now this? We talk about everything." Tears are building up in her eyes again.

"Rach, it's only been a week since I left that arena. It's barely been 6 hours since I've been back home. Just…please. Don't do this."

"Okay." She walks away but he pulls her back. "What?"

He lifts her hand and inspects the ring that he gave her. "I could get you a new one." Puck looks into her eyes and he sees a little sparkle in them.

"I love this ring. I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world."

"That reminds me." He stands up and digs into his pocket for the little box that Brittany gave him earlier. "This is for you."

Rachel's eyes shoot up to his. She pulls the box gently from his fingers and opens it. The delicate pearl hanging off a silver chain. "It's beautiful." Rachel hands him the box.

He chuckles, pulling it out and turns her around so he can put it on. "So you like it?"

"Of course." She smiles brightly at him. "Is this the one you found? In the arena?"

"Yeah." He rubs the pearl between his fingers. "Sleep with me tonight."

"I already planned on it." She smiles and pulls him out of the office.

Soon enough, everyone has said goodbye and that they'd meet up around lunch time at Finnick's house tomorrow. Rachel walks back with him to his house with his mom and sister. His mom tidies up the kitchen while Sarah gets ready for bed and Puck just says goodnight to everyone to go collapse on his bed.

Rachel follows him into his room, silently shutting the door behind herself as Puck lays down on the bed on his stomach. She straddles the back of his thighs, rubbing his back. "You're so tense."

Puck holds back his snort. Obviously he's tense. "That feels good baby." Her hands sneak under his shirt and moans at the contact of her skin. She's digging her fingers into his skin, kneading out the many knots that he has.

She smiles at the little sounds he's making, moving her hands up so that she's kneading his shoulders. "Noah." Raising up on her knees, she gives him room so that he can turn onto his back. She leans forward and starts to unbutton his shirt. "I missed you."

He smirks and pulls her down to him. "Babe, I would love to show you how much I fucking missed you, but I'm on the verge of passing out." Rachel giggles and unbuttons his shirt.

"Let's get you to bed then."

Once he's stripped down to his underwear and underneath his quilt, he shuts his eyes and instantly falls asleep when Rachel's warm body is pressed into his side.

* * *

><p>Puck wakes up and sleepily makes his way to the bathroom. He reaches the shower and turns on the water, hitting the wall a few times before he realizes there's no buttons there. Opening his eyes a little more widely, Puck quickly realizes that he's not in the Capitol anymore.<p>

"Well shit." He stands under the cold water then quickly shuts it off after a few minutes. That'll take some getting used to.

The towels aren't as fluffy as he wraps it around his waist and walks to his bedroom. Rachel is laying on the bed wearing nothing but his shirt. Nothing. Else. He swallows nervously. Noah Puckerman is scared? His brain is seriously messed up from the Games.

"They're not here. Your mom is at work and Sarah is at school."

What day is it? He shakes his head. "Alone with my fiancée, I like it." He grins and pulls off his towel, already hard and crawling over Rachel. She wraps her legs around his waist, thrusting her tongue into his mouth. He moans and rubs his length against her clit, eliciting a sharp gasp from Rachel.

"Noah, please." He pushes himself inside of her.

"Fuck, I missed you." He thrusts into her and pushes the shirt up her body so he can kiss her stomach.

"Right there. Harder!" Rachel arches up against him and Puck takes in one of her nipples.

"You close baby?" She whimpers and he rubs her clit with his thumb.

She screams out his name and pants while he releases inside of her. It's almost embarrassing how he doesn't last as long as he used to. But he's had nearly a month of no release, what-so-ever, so he thinks anyone can go screw themselves if they want to make fun of him. Once he's alone with Rachel in their new house, he'll have plenty of opportunities to fix that. She mumbles out that she loves him into his ear then whines when Puck pulls out.

They walk into Finnick's house, holding hands when they see Scarlett on the couch staring at the blank TV and Santana is sitting in another chair looking down at her nails. Rachel walks over to Santana and hugs her quickly then moves to sit on the couch with Scarlett. Puck looks around and sees that Finnick isn't around.

Leaning against the wall he looks over to Santana. "Where is he?"

"Office. I think he's talking to Quinn." Scarlett looks up at him.

Puck gives her an odd look then walks over to the office while the girls start to talk. He knocks quietly and peeks his head in. Finnick waves him over, so he sits in one of the leather seats that reminds him of President Snow's office. He suddenly feels extremely nauseous and looks down at the wood desk in front of him.

"Yeah Quinn, that's fine. Is that he wants?" Finnick chews on his nail and sighs. "Right. Whatever, just work it in however he wants." He hangs up the phone and runs his hands through his bronze hair.

"Everything alright?"

"As well as it can be." Finnick shrugs and puts a leg up on the corner of the desk. "She's coming down in a week to go over the tour schedule that's going to start in a few weeks. Since this tour will be…longer, we'll be starting it sooner. They might be ending it sooner than normal since it'll be the Quarter Quell."

"I see." He sighs, wishing he could get Finnick out of this.

Finnick is about to talk, but there's a loud knock at the front door. He jumps up and jogs over with Puck hot on his heels. He leans against the frame of the entrance leading into the living room while Finnick opens the door. Brittany squeals and jumps into his arms, kisses him lightly on the mouth then runs over to Puck.

"Puck! You look great. Now where is your Rachel?" She looks around and spots Scarlett's head and waves.

"I'm Rachel." She stands up and holds her hand out to Brittany.

The blonde snorts and pulls her into a hug. "Puck, she is so beautiful! Look at her." She holds her out at arm's length.

An attendant from the Justice Building starts to bring in piles of garment bags and trunks. All of them probably filled with clothes and whatever she needs for Brittany to stay with them. "Where should I take these Mr. Odair?"

Finnick nudges Brittany and motions for the two of them to follow him upstairs. Puck looks over and sees Scarlett smiling brightly as she gets up to go talk to Brittany. Rachel wraps her arms around his waist and kisses his jaw. What he doesn't expect to see is Santana glaring at the staircase. He sighs, knowing she's getting the completely wrong idea.

"Scarlett! Come help me separate your clothes from mine." Brittany calls down from the top of the staircase. "Oh Finnick, Puck, can we go down to the beach when we're done? Pretty please!"

"Yes, but go unpack first. If you do it really fast then we'll get down there quicker." Finnick walks down the stairs and gives Puck a knowing look.

"I'll go help." Rachel smiles at the both of them and runs up the stairs, interested in seeing what clothes that Brittany brought. "C'mon San!"

Santana stands up but scowls the entire time she's moving, stomping a little too hard on the stairs. Finnick sighs and leans against the frame opposite from Puck. "She's going to end up hating me."

"She just doesn't understand. And this…business deal is probably making her get even more shit building up in her head." Puck tucks his hands into his pockets and leans his head back until it hits the wood behind him.

"You don't know how bad I want to tell her." Puck is about to say something but Finnick shakes his head 'no'. It takes him a minute, but he realizes what Finnick means. They're victors, you never know who could be watching. Especially since his best friend works directly for the president. "It's good to have Brittany here. She's just so happy all the time."

He knows exactly what his friend means. It's like they won't have to think about what they've been through. "Yeah, I know."

Brittany comes running down the stairs. "Finnick! We're done. Can we go now?" She looks up at him hopeful and reaches out for his hand. At first he hesitates, glancing over at Santana, then sees that the blonde is starting to frown.

"Yeah, let's go." He holds her hand and looks at Puck with a pained expression on his face.

Puck sighs and wraps his arm around Rachel's waist and pulls Santana's hand behind him. As soon as they're outside, Santana pulls her hand away from Puck and sulks behind the rest of the group. Rachel turns back and looks at her worriedly, gripping his hand but he keeps pulling her towards the beach where Steve's boat is. Brittany runs into the sand and giggles with Scarlett next to her. Finnick sits down and stares at the girls in front of him. Rachel joins them but Santana sits further down the beach.

"Want me to talk to her?" Puck kneels down next to Finnick.

"It won't help." He says dejectedly and looks down at the sand.

He pats Finnick's shoulder when all the girls walk over to sit next to him, then walks over to Santana.

"I don't need your pity Puckerman." Santana hugs her knees and stares at the water.

"He cares about you. There's just a lot that you can't know." He pulls her into his side, hugging her tightly. "Believe me when I tell you, that it's best you don't. Finnick has done so much to protect us all."

Santana lets out a scoff. "That doesn't make sense."

"I know it doesn't. But it doesn't make it any less true. You're better off not knowing San." He brushes the hair from her eyes and tucks it behind her ear.

She looks down the beach at the blonde who has his hand in hers, leaning her head on his shoulder while looking out into the water. "What's going on with those two?"

Puck looks over then down at Santana's face. "She's not the reason he can't be with you. They're just friends."

"How do you know?"

"I've seen them around the Capitol. Trust me. There is nothing going on between the two of them." Puck kisses her temple. "I think you'd really like Brittany. So stop acting like a bitch and talk to the girl."

He stands up and starts to walk towards the pier where Steve's boat just docked. Puck walks down the wood, the slight wind blowing past him, carrying the laughter from where his friends are sitting. Steve isn't anywhere to be seen on the deck, so he figures he's by the wheel under the shade. Stepping onto the boat, he walks towards the covered area, smelling the sea water. It brings him back to nearly a month ago when he was working. It doesn't even seem like he's been gone. This just feels routine.

"Noah Puckerman." Steve says, sitting down on the chair behind the wheel.

"Steve Evans." He smirks, but quickly wipes it away as he sits down on the bench not too far from the wheel. "How are you?"

The man in front of him looks down at his cup filled with water and sighs. "I've been better."

"You probably didn't want to see me, but I had to come." Puck looks down at the ground. He knows that he wishes Sam was sitting here, just coming home from the Games. They would have a father son talk. If there was a time to feel guilty about winning, this would be it.

"It's hard."

"You've been more of a dad to me than…he was. But I know you must hate me for being back when Sam can't be." He tries to push away the tears that are pooling into his eyes.

"I couldn't hate you." Steve stands up and walks over to sit next to Puck. "It's hard because I know Sammy didn't have what you did. It was hard to watch, but I feel like you're my son too." His hand rests on Puck's shoulder. "You had such strength in the Games. I could see how determined you were. Sam looked defeated when he got to the final four. He was tired, whereas you kept going. I'm proud of you. Just like I'll always be proud of Sam."

"It's not fair. All those kids who died in the beginning…Most of them knew they didn't even have a chance." He drops his head into his hands, leaning forward on his knees.

"Well you're here. So it doesn't matter." He gets up and sets his cup down by the wheel.

Desperate for a change in conversation, Puck spits out the first thing that came to his mind. "Did you hire someone new while I was gone?"

"Actually, Matt has been helping out." Steve smirks at Puck. "But you're more than welcome to come back if you'd like. I know that you have all that money now…"

Puck quickly interrupts him. "I'd love to. I haven't figured out a talent yet, but I'm so used to working that I don't want to stop."

"Then I'll see you after the victory tour. Enjoy some time with Rachel. She was a mess while you were gone whenever I saw her in town. Her and Santana were practically glued to the TV."

He winces at the thought of Rachel watching every minute she could. "I'll see you then." He smiles as Steve pulls him into a hug.

"Damn glad to have you back son." He pats his shoulder then pushes him out towards the deck.

Rachel walks over to him, looking up into his eyes. "How was he?"

"Better than I expected." He leans down to kiss Rachel on the lips softly. He pulls her into his arms and notices that Santana is smiling and actually having a conversation with Brittany. Finnick looks relieved.

* * *

><p>A few days later, Puck sits on the couch when Brittany walks in. "Quinn is going to be here in a few hours to get you guys moved into the new house! She can order any type of furniture you would like to change too."<p>

He furrows his brow and looks over at Brittany. "I need to talk to my mom. Want to walk with me down to the apothecary?"

"I would love to." She hops up and reaches out for his hand.

Once they get outside, she links her arm in his and looks around. "I really like it here. It's a lot more calm than the Capitol."

"The beach suits you Britt." He laughs and pushes the door to the shop. "Hey ma, I need to talk to you."

"Noah, Brittany! How lovely to see you." She kisses both of their cheeks. "What do you need to talk about?"

"Quinn is coming to move us into the new house. Are you and Sarah moving in with me?"

"Actually, I thought that Rachel would move in with you. Sarah can have your room. It wouldn't be so bad, plus every married couple should have their own house."

"Ma, you know that Rachel and I don't mind."

"I know that dear. We'll still visit." She smiles and pats his cheek.

"If you're sure." He kisses her cheek and Brittany waves excitedly goodbye. "I guess we can start packing up my room then take it over to Finnick's till Quinn gets here. Rachel's things can wait I suppose."

"You can hire someone to pack her things Puck."

"Rachel is very particular about how she packs and unpacks anything. I'm not even going to bother with that one." He laughs.

"Are you excited to plan your wedding?" Brittany looks up at him when they push through his front door.

"Haven't really thought about it." He purses his lips and walks into his room to collect all of his clothes. "Rachel can probably plan that while I'm on the victory tour right?"

"Of course. And she can call Quinn to help out with any details. This will be so exciting! President Snow might want to broadcast the wedding out since you're the most recent winner. You should have it on the beach." Brittany smiles dreamily before she walks over to the small dresser to pull out his clothes and fold them.

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><p><em>Up next is the victory tour. Is there anything you guys are hoping to see come up?<em>


	18. Chapter 18

**I don't own Glee or The Hunger Games. Mistakes are mine though!**

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><p>Quinn walks into the living room, her heels clicking away on the hardwood floors while she inspects the furniture. Puck and Rachel follow behind her quietly wondering what's going on in her head. "Mhm." She notes something on her PDA that the Capitol provided her then moves to the kitchen.<p>

"What is she looking for?" Rachel looks into the kitchen then up at Puck.

"I have no fucking clue. It's not like anyone has lived in here." He sighs as Quinn walks down the hall to the office. "Are you sure your parents don't mind you moving in with me? We're not married yet."

"They don't mind Noah. Plus you'll be going on your tour soon so Santana can come stay with me while you're gone. I can't wait to start planning our wedding." She bites her lip and pulls on the collar of his shirt so she can kiss him.

Their lips are about to brush together when Quinn's heels walk by them and goes up the stairs, clearing her throat as she goes. "Puck, Rachel." She looks at them pointedly and moves up the stairs easily.

Rachel sighs and pulls him up the stairs. They end in the master bedroom where Quinn sits on the chair by the window and flips through her notes. Puck guides Rachel to sit on the bench at the end of the bed while he stands up.

"Are you both happy with all of the furniture?" She looks up at Puck and over to Rachel.

"Well, I don't mind the darker furniture downstairs because it looks great with the hardwood floors, but upstairs I'd like everything to be white. If that's possible."

"Of course it is Rachel! I can leave you with some Capitol catalogues so that you can pick out what you like and I can get it ordered while we're on the victory tour." She stands up and moves downstairs to grab the catalogues that she brought. "I'll be right back."

"Would white furniture be okay up here Noah?" Rachel looks up at him nervously, noticing that she spoke of what she wanted without saying anything to him.

"Anything you want baby. I don't care." He reaches over and squeezes her hand.

Quinn walks back up with an armful of magazines and catalogues. "I hope you don't mind. But I also brought along some wedding magazines and dress catalogues. Puck told me that you two were recently engaged, so if you see anything you like, we can get it for you. I told Puck that I could help plan the wedding also, if you like."

"That would be wonderful Quinn. Thank you so much. And Noah said that the victory tour starts next week?"

"Yes." Quinn sits up excitedly. "I discussed this with Finnick already, but we will stay the night in each district and when we get to the Capitol we'll be there for a few days since President Snow has arranged several appointments for Finnick. Then of course there is the ball then we will travel back here. Traveling between the districts will take a few days at most, with stops for fuel. Then when we get back to District 4, there will be the big dinner with the mayor then it'll be time to prepare for the Quarter Quell!" She lets out a breath and smiles.

"Preparing for the Quarter Quell already?" Rachel stares at Quinn and tries to do the math in her head.

"They'll read out the card a month or two after the tour, but they'll be busy building the arena and getting all of that ready. We'll have plenty of time to plan your wedding while we wait for that anyways."

"Wow." Puck sits down on the bed overwhelmed. In a matter of months he'll be back at the Capitol watching more kids dying.

"Noah?" She reaches out for him worried.

He turns to her. "When did you want to get married Rach?"

Her eyes widen as she stares at him. "Um, I don't know. Before the Quarter Quell? Would that be too soon?" She looks between Puck and Quinn.

"Not at all." The blonde smiles at them both.

"Sounds perfect." Puck smiles down at Rachel.

"Oh how wonderful! I can get some help from the Justice Building to create a dinner so you can tell your families if you'd like. You can set a date and let me know."

"Thank you so much for the help Quinn." Rachel stands up and hugs her tightly. They both disappear downstairs while Puck just stares at the room in front of him. A fall wedding. It could be worse.

Later that night, they're sitting in their new dining room filled with Rachel's parents, his mom and Sarah, Finnick, Santana, Matt, Scarlett, Quinn, Brittany and Steve. Everyone is dressed in their best clothing and Puck stands up, holding his glass.

"We would like to tell all of you, together, that Rachel and I will be getting married before the Quarter Quell. We'd like all of your help for a specific date though." He points his glass to everyone, including his little sister and Quinn.

"A fall wedding! That will be beautiful you two." Rachel's mom, Shelby stands up and hugs them both.

"How about late August? At sunset on the beach?" Santana surprises everyone and they all look to her. "What? I'm a girl too and I fantasize about that kind of stuff." She huffs and takes a sip of her drink.

Rachel tears up and moves over to her best friend. "I love that idea. What do you think?" She looks over to Noah.

"I agree." He smirks and sits down.

"Lovely! This is so exciting. My first victor is getting married. Well one of my first victors." She smiles warmly over at Scarlett.

Puck and Scarlett are both equally surprised at how nice Quinn is being. Finnick seems to be even more shocked as he stares at the blonde. Rachel clears her throat. "I would really like it if Santana would be my maid of honor, Scarlett as a bridesmaid and Sarah as the flower girl. Quinn of course you would be helping all of us plan the wedding, so you'll be a big part. And Brittany I'd love if you could design everything."

"Of course!" Santana and Brittany jump up to go hug Rachel.

"Really?" Scarlett asks in a small voice, tears clouding her eyes.

"Yes Scarlett." Rachel giggles. "We told you that you're like family." She walks over and hugs the brunette. Sarah just smiles at everyone and goes back to eating her dessert.

"In that case, Finnick? Best man, Matt, groomsman." Puck shrugs and picks up his fork.

They both snort and raise their chins at him while all the girls go to the living room to discuss plans. Rachel's dad and Steve just shake their heads and eats their dessert too.

* * *

><p>The first day of the victory tour is short in Puck's opinion. District 3 isn't that far from 4, so it's mostly like taking a nap on the train then getting ready to go stand out in front of people. Scarlett has become a huge bundle of nerves. It's only the first day on the train, but everyone feels on edge by the way she's been pacing up and down the train. Puck watches as Brittany and Quinn try to calm her down but it just doesn't work. She just pushes past people until she disappears into her room to get ready on her own. She'll let Cinna in for a few minutes before she kicks him right out.<p>

Finnick pulls Puck into her room and locks the door. "What the hell is going on with you? You're freaking Quinn out and that's not exactly an easy task."

Scarlett looks up at them scared. "I started to have nightmares last night." That explains it. Maybe. Actually it makes no sense to Puck because he tries to think really hard at all the bad parts she had to deal with in the Games. Maybe Cara is haunting in her dreams just like Clove haunts his.

"What were they about?" She shakes her head no at Finnick. He sighs and gets up. "Whatever. I have to go get ready for my appointments later anyways." He leaves the room and Puck just looks back over to her.

"Wanna tell me what's going inside of your head?"

"You've been having nightmares about Clove right?" He nods. There's other things too but he's definitely not going to tell her about it. "Well I've been really scared about the tour. I lived when I should've died. All those families are going to glare at me, receiving awards for not doing anything. So I've been having dreams about the families trying to kill me. And President Snow coming after me because I shouldn't be alive."

His eyes soften and walks over to where she's sitting on the bed in her dress. "Nothing will happen to you alright? If you have a nightmare just go over to Emma or Brittany. Hell even Finnick and I will try to help. You didn't do anything wrong."

Scarlett nods. "Thank you," she whispers.

"Look, I have to go get ready. We'll be alright, okay?"

Puck leaves and goes to his room to find Brittany waiting there with some dress pants and a button up shirt. He thought his nightmares were bad, but having the thought that President Snow may want to kill you at any time because you survived on accident. Yeah, that was a little more frightening than he cares to admit.

"You're so easy to dress. You look great in anything." Brittany smiles on the bed and pets her cat that Quinn let her bring along.

He smirks at her and helps her up, leaving Lord Tubbington on his bed since he's asleep and they walk to the front of the train. Quinn is ready and standing along with Finnick, Emma, Scarlett and Cinna. She leads the way off the train and into the Justice Building where the mayor will present an award to the two of them. The family of the tributes are sitting in the front row, staring at them with hateful frowns on their faces. Scarlett reaches for Puck's hand while the mayor reads something from a card. They're presented with flowers and then they leave the stage. Quinn escorts them back to the train where they change into formal wear for the dinner. Quickly after dinner, she shoos them back onto the train where they spend the remainder of the night while Finnick and Quinn go off to his appointments. Puck feels like this is all a little too rehearsed.

Emma hasn't been feeling well so she spends most of her time in her room while Brittany and Scarlett come to sit in his. They watch the replay of the small ceremony while they wait for Finnick to come into his room. The bed is big enough to fit all them, Brittany helping anyone who has a nightmare that night.

This becomes the routine for the entire victory tour. Eat, sleep, awards, dinner, appointments, sleep. Repeat. Every single day until they reach District 12. The night before Puck and Scarlett don't sleep at all. That night, Scarlett curls into Finnick's side while Brittany lays her head down on Puck's chest. He's extremely nervous about facing the tribute's families and Scarlett vomits repeatedly before they step off the train.

Puck holds her hand while they walk out of the Justice Building and onto the platform that holds the microphone where the mayor will be making his speech. They've learned that all of the mayors read from the same card. When they sit down, the tribute's families aren't glaring at them. If anything, they're smiling slightly and dabbing at their eyes.

"Why aren't they glaring at us?" Scarlett squeezes his hand and looks up at him.

"District 12 doesn't generally stay alive as long as Cara and Mason did. Maybe they're grateful?" Puck looks down at her and smiles sadly, knowing how much she misses Cara every day. It's his fault that she's dead right now.

She nods and looks back into the crowd, smiling sadly at what she thinks is Cara's family. Out of the two of them, Cara's death was more terrible. Mason at least died instantly. They see Haymitch to the side, eyeing them carefully. If he's drunk, no one can really tell. He's acting sober like the rest of the population. At the end of the speech, one man in the back presses three fingers to his lips and raises them towards Puck and Scarlett. Puck's not sure what it means, but more people follow along until everyone, including Haymitch, is doing it. They turn to walk back towards the train when he hears a gunshot.

Scarlett tries to turn around but he pushes her in front of him, glances over his shoulder to see the man who started the kiss, is now dead on the ground. Finnick comes behind Puck and pushes him hard towards the train track. "Move faster. We're eating dinner here tonight and then we're leaving."

Puck turns and stares at his friend. "No appointments here?"

"No." He doesn't answer anymore and walks onto the train so he can get changed.

Scarlett is practically hysterical when Quinn and Cinna take her into her room to get changed. Brittany actually puts a tie on him tonight and looks up at him. "Don't think about it Puck." He knows that she's shaken up about the man dying, so he just pulls her into a hug and kisses her hairline.

The next two days are spent traveling from 12 over to the Capitol. Emma is sick with the flu so the train stops in District 4 so she can go to Puck's mother and get better for the dinner with the mayor in a few days. Scarlett lays in Puck's bed, curled up with Lord Tubbington and stares out the window. Quinn looks through furniture catalogues in the dining room, talking with Rachel so that she can order it all once they get to the Capitol. Brittany lays on the floor in Puck's room drawing different sketches of bridesmaid dresses and Finnick just lays beside Brittany and runs his hand through her blonde curls, thinking about Santana. Puck sits in a chair in the corner, staring at his friends in front of him.

Surprisingly, he hasn't had a nightmare during the whole victory tour. Finnick has had more and Scarlett's have been getting progressively worse. He thinks that once the tour is over, that she'll be better. Or he hopes.

"Puck! Rachel has picked out the furniture and I'd like to show you what she came up with." Quinn pulls up a chair and shows him all the things that are marked in the catalogue. "Do you like it?" She bites her lip and looks at him with her hazel eyes.

"Yeah, looks great. Did she pick out new linens and things like that?"

"She did. I placed the order and it will be delivered before we leave the Capitol. Matt, her father, and Steve said they would help her move it all around once it gets there."

"Thank you Quinn." He actually smiles at her instead of smirking.

She smiles at walks out of the room. "We'll be there in an hour or so! Get ready."

No one gets up immediately, but eventually Finnick stands up and moves to his own room to meet with Cinna's assistants to get ready. Scarlett wipes away a tear and moves towards her room to meet with Cinna while Brittany puts away her sketchbook and moves towards his closet. It's amazing how they all seem so broken, but not.

* * *

><p>A few days later, Puck is in a tuxedo sipping wine in the same dining room he was in after he won the Hunger Games. Musicians are playing on cloud like platforms in the air and there are more seats around the area than last time. Scarlett is twirling around on the dance floor with a man that she doesn't know, but asked her to dance so Puck is keeping an eye out for her while Brittany stands next to him in her floor length gown.<p>

Earlier Caesar interviewed them asking how they've been adjusting to their new lives and how the victory tour has been. It was all a bunch of nonsense questions and Puck is just thankful that they didn't ask about talents yet. But as he sits here listening to the musicians, he's thinking about asking Quinn if he can learn to play the guitar for his talent. Brittany has been teaching Scarlett how to design sketches for her own talent.

"She doesn't even look like she's been having nightmares." Brittany interrupts his train of thought and he looks over to Scarlett.

"Yeah. I think that Emma probably showed her how to act in front of everyone else. Because she does a pretty good job at hiding everything too."

Brittany is about to speak again when Scarlett walks over with Sue Sylvester hot on her trail. She moves over to Puck and wraps her arm around his waist while Sue smiles at all of them. The woman actually kind of terrifies him.

"Congratulations again, to the two of you. Are you looking forward to the Games now that you'll both be mentors?"

"Of course." Puck lies easily.

"This year will really be something." She sips her wine. "I'll be traveling to see how the arena is going to look in a few hours seeing how it's almost complete. It's going to be quite the _hot _attraction once the Quarter Quell is over." Sue winks at the three of them.

"What do you mean?" Scarlett gives Sue a confused look.

"I can't reveal any details. But this may be the arena that most people will want to visit once the Games are done." Puck blinks at her, not really understanding what she's trying to get at. A hot attraction? It's sick that people even want to visit the old arenas in the first place. "I must be going, but I will be seeing all of you _very_ soon."

"What was that about?" Quinn walks over to them and eyes Sue suspiciously.

Puck watches as Sue moves through the crowd. "We're wondering the same thing."

"Are we leaving once Finnick is done with his appointment for the night?"

"Yes. In about twenty minutes actually, so if you'd like to head towards the train, please do so. President Snow said that they're making an announcement once our train arrives back in District 4 that will be a required viewing for everyone." Quinn smiles nervously and makes her way to thank any sponsors that she recognizes.

"That's strange." Brittany looks at her cousin.

"How so?" Scarlett removes her arm from Puck's waist and stands in front of them. Her soft pink dress and the diamonds over her breasts sparkling in the warm light of the room.

"They've never made any announcements after the ball. Especially right after the victors get home. It's going to be very late in District 12 when they announce it."

"I guess we better get back to the train so that we can get home as fast as possible. No one here even seems concerned about it."

"And the ball is ending so early. We got here not too long ago. I barely even ate." Scarlett frowns and looks at all the good looking food.

"We can eat on the train. Now come on you three. Quinn sent me over to retrieve you." Cinna ushers them to the door.

When they all arrive home at District 4, Puck sits on the couch with Rachel pulled into his side while everyone else scatters along their floor and other chairs.

"I wonder what the big announcement is." Quinn smiles at everyone and turns her attention back to the TV.

"You work for the Capitol, aren't you supposed to know?" Santana stares at the blonde carefully then back at the TV.

"They don't tell us everything about the Hunger Games. And it's not really our place to say anything. When President Snow makes a decision, we just do as we're told." Quinn glares at Santana then looks back to the TV while holding a pillow to her chest.

_Caesar Flickerman comes out to the podium, still wearing his baby blue hair, lips and suit from the last Hunger Games. He smiles to the camera. "Tonight is a very special night. The victory tour has ended and President Snow has decided to read the Quarter Quell card tonight! Now, you may be thinking 'why so early?' Well dear residents of Panem, the president has been informed by our new Game Maker, Sue Sylvester, that the weather where the new arena is being built will be perfect for the games in two months. President Snow has decided to move up the Hunger Games because of this new information." _

"Is he serious?" Rachel looks over to Quinn.

"I suppose so. No one knew about this." She looks down at her PDA, seeing that there's been no new updates on it.

"_Now please welcome President Snow." Caesar claps and the president walks on stage. _

_He stands behind the microphone and watches as a little girl walks up holding a small wooden box. President Snow begins to read out what happened on the first and second Quarter Quells when the card was read. The little girl holds up the box and he plucks out the card for the third Quarter Quell. _

"_On the 75th anniversary as reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot over come the power of the Capitol, one tribute will be reaped from the existing pool of victors." He smiles and shoos the little girl away. "When one tribute, whether male or female, is picked, the other must come from a previous victor, despite their age." President Snow waves at everyone and walks off the stage. _

The Capitol seal appears on the screen. Finnick, Puck and Scarlett are staring at the screen. Any one of them could be going back to the arena. Sarah looks at the screen in tears because this is the first year that she'll be eligible for the reaping. Puck's mother is looking at her two children, wondering if this might be the year both of them will have to leave. Rachel abruptly stands up and runs to the bathroom, her hand covering her mouth. Santana quickly runs after her while Quinn and Brittany are sitting and looking down at the floor.

"Puck, I need to speak with you. Alone." Finnick stands up and moves over to the office.

* * *

><p><em>Not the best update by far, but I kind of wanted to get it over with so I can move on to the parts that have been stuck in my mind since I started this story : )<em>

_Also thanks to all the reviews & alerts I have gotten.  
><em>


	19. Chapter 19

**Still don't own anything. Mistakes are mine though!  
><strong>

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><p>Puck follows Finnick into the office and leans against the bookshelf while his friend sits on top of the desk. Neither of them really know what to say. There aren't many victors to choose from in the first place in their district and since they're the only two male tributes that are still alive, well…they're basically screwed unless a girl tribute is somehow picked first. But since Quinn always starts with girls and there are quite a lot of girls in District 4, he's thinking they won't get out of this that easily.<p>

Finnick takes a deep breath like he's about to talk before he just lets it out and stares at the ground. Puck looks down at the ground before Finnick just has conversation vomit. "Look man, we're the only two male tributes so we're pretty fucked as it is. If you get reaped, I'm volunteering. But either way, I'm going to teach you how to mentor. You're not going back."

"You can't make decisions like that for me! If I get reaped, I get reaped."

"Puck, you have a fucking family you need to think about. Plus if I get reaped, then that'll at least leave Sarah, Scarlett and Emma safe."

"Where do you even think they came up with this shit rule? Okay, so a regular female tribute gets picked, why throw a male victor in? The Capitol population loves us. Won't they just get pissed that a bunch of us will go back and die? Or do they expect all the victors to kill off all the kids and have a real fucking entertaining show?"

"Don't over analyze it man. So twelve victors go and twelve kids go. It's what they want. Better than the second Quarter Quell. Twice as many kids?"

Puck sighs and scrubs his hand over the back of his neck. "I really don't want you to volunteer for me if I get reaped. It's fucked up. You got me back and you could do it again."

"Just…let me do this. It may be the only way I get to be free again." Finnick says it so quietly that he has to strain to hear it.

But he can't stand the way that Finnick sounds so defeated. Puck nods and averts his eyes down to the floor. Finnick moves past him and leaves, walking straight out the front door. Puck walks towards the door before he hears Santana screaming his name and soon her voice disappears behind the sound of the front door shutting. Puck closes his eyes as Rachel silently tells their family and friends that they'll all talk about this later this week. She knocks on the door and he moves out of the way, sliding down the bare wall and settles on the ground.

"Noah?" Rachel looks in and sees him on the floor. "Honey." Tears form in her eyes and she sits on the floor next to him.

"You okay baby? Sorry I didn't follow you into the bathroom." He shakes his head, disappointed in himself.

"I'm fine. Well as fine as I can be. It was just a bit of a shock, but how are you?" Rachel smoothes her hand up his chest till she's cupping his cheek. "What did Finnick want to talk about?"

"Basically if it's between me and him, he's going. I just don't get how he thinks he gets the right to do that." Honestly, he knows the reason why Finnick would want to go to the arena. To escape President Snow and the life he wants, but can't have. "So I guess I have nothing to worry about in that case. But now I have to think about Sarah, Scarlett and Emma. What if one of them gets picked?" He shakes his head. "I just…" Puck sighs.

Rachel climbs onto his lap and kisses him. "You're so stressed and tense all the time." A tears falls down her cheek and hits his arm.

"Rachel…" Puck wraps his arms around her and squeezes her tight.

"We just need something happy to happen." She pauses and bites her lip. "Let's get married soon. There's two months before the Reaping."

He looks into her eyes and he can see how badly she wants that. All the words that she isn't saying are being expressed in her eyes. She's scared that if any of her friends get reaped that they won't get to witness them getting married. She's scared that if for some reason, he has to go, that he might not make it back to marry her. His heart aches for her. Neither of them can catch a break.

"Let's do it. Just us, no bridal party. They can all be there, but I want it short and simple."

"Really?" She looks into his eyes, trying to see if he's messing with her. But she sees nothing but love in his eyes. For the first time since he's been back, they're green just like she loves. He nods and she smiles. "Noah, you're the most amazing man ever. I love you so much."

* * *

><p>Rachel stares at Brittany, while the blonde looks down at all of her sketches and pulls three out. "I know that you didn't want me to design a wedding dress or didn't ask me to yet, but I drew these on the tour. Since you're asking me now, if you like one of these we can work from that to get you something."<p>

"That's so sweet of you Brittany, thank you." She smiles and looks down at the sketches. "I love this one."

"Rachel, that one is my personal favorite." The blonde giggles and tosses the other sketches before moving near the closet to pull out her trunk full of fabric. "Maybe we should send Finnick to get us some food. We're going to be up here awhile."

"You want to make it. Today?" She stares at her with disbelief and confusion etched all over her face. Rachel looks down at the sketch. "Do you have a fever?"

Brittany laughs and starts to throw random fabric out of the trunk, all of it is white and different types of fabric. Silk, cotton, satin, you name it, she's throwing it out. "Nope. But it's not going to be that hard, really. We can get it done today. I'm going to go through Finnick's kitchen so meet me back in here in ten minutes." She looks at her pointedly before moving out of the door.

Rachel looks around at all the fabric and moves her way out of Finnick's house towards the pier. Steve's boat is bobbing in the water, so she jogs down the wooden planks until landing on the deck with a delicate jump. She hears laughing coming from inside, so she walks towards it and peers around the corner.

"Noah?"

"Hey Rach. What are you doing here?" Puck gets up and moves over to kiss her.

"Brittany wants to finish the dress today, so don't come to Finnick's house. I'll meet you at home whenever we're done."

"Your wedding dress?" Steve looks at her questioningly.

"Yes. I asked her to design it. Quinn brought several magazines filled with lovely dresses, but I know Brittany could make something even better."

"Alright, I'll do my best to stay away." Puck grins and kisses her again.

"You _will_ stay away." Rachel winks and turns to skip off the deck and onto the pier.

Hours later, Brittany is blowing her hair off her face while she measures around underneath her breasts again. She's getting extremely frustrated that they can't get it to fit just right. She throws her hands up in the air and falls over. "I don't understand!"

Rachel bites her lip and looks down at the gown. So far it's just the first layer but it's not working out. "Maybe a different fabric would work?"

"No! I refuse to use anything else. This is how I designed it and it's going to work damnit!" Brittany jumps up and stares at her breasts a little longer. The petite brunette in her shifts awkwardly but snaps her eyes over to the door that's opening.

"Hey babe." Puck peeks around the door.

Brittany moves in front of Rachel, covering her body while her head peers around the taller girl. "Noah! You're not supposed to be here!" She picks up the little fabric ball that's holding all the needles and throws it at the door near his head. "It's bad luck to see the dress before the wedding!"

"What she said!" Brittany stomps her foot and glares at Puck while he laughs.

"Hey now, I'm just trying to make sure her dress doesn't have a million fucking buttons since I'll be peeling it off your body later." He winks at Rachel.

"Noah, I love you but get the fuck out of here!"

His eyes widen and immediately closes the door. Brittany moves to lock the door and glares at the dress. "I should just add all of them just to piss him off." She mumbles under her breath while she stares at the fabric. "I can't believe he almost saw it! I could go down and castrate him."

"Please don't." Rachel laughs then grins. "You should add the buttons." All of a sudden, Brittany's eyes light up and grins. "What is that look for?"

"I just got the perfect idea of how to make it all work." She moves to her trunk and pulls out a white silk ribbon and wraps it underneath her chest and smiles. "Perfect." Shoving it into Rachel's hands she moves towards a smaller suitcase and pulls out different containers full of buttons. "We're going to add the buttons alright." Then she pulls out a zipper. "And we're really going to mess with his mind."

She throws her head back and laughs. "That's kind of mean but I love it."

* * *

><p>"What do you mean we're not having a big wedding anymore? I told President Snow myself that we'd film it for all of Panem to view. He really wants that to happen." Quinn stares at Puck and Rachel with her eyes wide.<p>

"We really just want something small and personal. With everything that's going on, as you know." Rachel smiles and grips Puck's hand.

"No, that just won't do. He's going to send in a live feed to everyone. I can't go to the President and tell him that we refuse to do it. He'll have my head!"

Puck sighs and looks down at Rachel. "Why don't we have our own private ceremony then have the big thing that Snow wants? No one knows that we want to have something small anyways and Brittany can just do another dress for the wedding that Snow wants to broadcast."

"I guess that could be acceptable. But we'd have to keep it between us three until the day of the wedding so that no one leaks it out. Is that fine with you Rachel?" She bobs her head up and down, leaning into Puck's side. "Perfect! He would like it to happen two weeks before the Reaping. When would you like to have yours?" She looks down at her planner and flips through several pages.

"This weekend."

Both girls snap their eyes to his face. "What? I don't want to wait anymore."

"Such a romantic." Rachel leans up and kisses his cheek.

"Oh, well that certainly is soon. What do you need in terms of decorations?"

"Rachel why don't you talk to Brittany about designing another dress?" She looks up at him oddly before nodding and walking away. "Alright, these are the things that we'll need." He starts to name them off while Quinn quickly writes them down.

* * *

><p>Rachel stands in the room where her and Brittany designed the dress, admiring her reflection in the mirror. She can hear Quinn talking to everyone downstairs, being very vague about why they are meeting up there all dressed up. She ignores the commotion downstairs since Puck is next door getting ready too. Quinn helped to curl her hair and she's even the one who is marrying them. She went up to the Capitol to get the necessary certificate, telling President Snow that they wanted her to marry them personally.<p>

Quinn stares at all the people in front of her, dressed up in their nicest clothes that Brittany helped design, while they ask her questions.

"Okay everyone _please_ calm down. Puck just planned a dinner to show how much he appreciated all your support during the Hunger Games. Now please, make your way down to the pier. We have seats set up where he'll be doing a speech and Steve has let us use his boat for dinner. Thank you!" She grins at them and moves her way up the stairs.

"Puck?" She knocks on the door. "Are you ready to go down to the pier? Everyone is on their way. Rachel will be on her way behind us."

He looks into the mirror at his dark dress pants and his light green dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Puck grabs the light gray vest and shrugs it on, buttoning it up and smiling at Quinn. "Did you get the rings?"

She nods and pulls out a small velvet box. Inside, a plain silver band is there for him and a smaller one that has diamonds on the top of it. "They're perfect Puck. She'll be really happy with it. But we must get going!" Quinn spins around and skips down the hallway.

Puck follows her out the door and down to the pier. It's right before sunset and the bright blue water is crashing lazily against the sand. Everyone is seated in two small rows, staring at him oddly. "Thanks for coming everyone. Rachel and I decided to do something special to show all of you that we really appreciate you being in our lives. She'll be down any moment."

"You know, I tried to help her get ready for whatever this is, and she refused Puckerman. Rach has never not asked me to do her hair." Santana crosses her arms and glares at him.

He rolls his eyes. But when he looks down the beach, Rachel has a bouquet of white roses by her side and her brown curls blowing in the wind. When she gets closer, his throat closes up. Rachel moves carefully through the sand in her high heels. The dress dips slightly into her breasts but he can see the silk underneath all of the lace. Her shoulders are completely bare, the small pearl on her necklace falling into the hollow of her throat, while the material falls down and hugs her curves, not flaring or anything at the bottom.

Everyone turns around to see what he's looking at and they all stand up. Brittany lets out a little gasp.

Rachel looks up to see their family and friends staring at her. She drops the bottom of her dress to the ground, not even caring if sand gets on it. Her eyes focus on the hazel ones that are looking at her, a little half smile forming on his face. She smiles brightly and holds her flowers in both her hands, biting her lip as she makes her way past everyone before standing next to Puck.

Quinn smiles and looks at everyone. "Please be seated." They all numbly do as their told and sit down, looking at the couple with smiles on their faces. "With the news of the 3rd Quarter Quell, these two decided that they would like a simple ceremony with their family before their union that President Snow has decided he would like to broadcast himself."

Puck reaches for Rachel's hand, squeezing it gently until she looks up at him. Her makeup was done to look natural but he notices her eyes are swimming with tears. She laughs and looks at Quinn. "Can we please get started?"

Finnick laughs and puts his arm around Santana, pulling her in close while Brittany lays her head on his shoulder.

"Of course!" Quinn smiles between the two of them. "Today you celebrate one of life's greatest moments and give recognition to the worth and beauty of love, as you join together in vows of marriage." She turns towards Puck. "Puck, do you promise to love Rachel for the rest of your life?"

"I do."

"Rachel, do you promise to love Noah the rest of your life?" Quinn felt wrong saying his given name like that, but it was what Rachel requested.

"I do." She bites her lip and looks into his eyes.

Quinn smiles and pulls out the rings, passing the smaller one to Puck and the bigger one to Rachel. "Puck, please place Rachel's ring on the third finger of her left hand and repeat after me. I, Noah take thee, Rachel to be my Wife. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, and I promise my love to you. With this ring, I thee wed."

He returns the words and slips on the ring and smiles at Rachel. Quinn turns towards the bride.

"Rachel, please place Puck's ring on the third finger of his left hand and repeat after me." Rachel slips on the ring and squeezes his hand. "I, Rachel take thee Noah to be my husband. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, and I promise my love to you. With this ring, I thee wed." She repeats the words and smiles with tears threatening to spill over.

Puck looks over to their family and friends, noticing all the females dabbing their eyes with their fingers. He chuckles and looks down at Rachel who does the same.

Quinn dabs at her eyes. "By the power vested in me by the Capitol of Panem, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." She takes Rachel's flowers and wipes underneath her eyes again.

Rachel wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him deeply. She can't even hear the cheers from her family or the flash from the camera that Quinn has from when she moved down by their family to snap a picture for them to have. All she can feel is Puck's hands on her hips while he pulls her closer, his tongue licking her bottom lip. She pulls away slightly and murmurs 'I love you' on his lips.

"I love you too Rachel."

They all move to the deck of Steve's boat where sparkling lights are hanging up with a few tables to sit everyone. It's dark now, so the stars are out over the water with the deck dimly lit. There's no Capitol attendants, but there's a table set up with a lot of food sitting on top. Their parents and Steve sit at one table while everyone else sits at the other one.

"I can't believe you didn't tell us!" Sarah glares at her brother. "I really wanted to throw flowers."

"Actually I agree." Santana sits up and glowers at both of them. "We could've helped set things up or something. At least me and Finnick."

"Really, I'm just happy to see you two married. And Rachel you look absolutely beautiful." Finnick smirks and sets his arm over the back of Santana's chair.

"Thank you Finnick. And I'm sorry San. We just decided after we heard the reading of the card. Both of us wanted something happy to happen. Without the pressure of anyone having to plan anything, we thought everyone would just have more fun that way." Rachel leans into Puck and kisses underneath his jaw.

"What she said." Puck laughs and bends down to kiss her.

Finnick leans forward and starts to eat some food off his plate. "Save that until after you two eat a piece of cake. Then you can go disappear."

Brittany looks at Rachel with her head tilted. "Rachel, I'm so glad you picked that dress. It is stunning on you. Lord Tubbington was really happy with how it finished, he kept looking at it at night when I would come to find him for bed. The ribbon around your ribs worked perfectly."

"Thank you so much for doing this for me Brittany. It's so beautiful."

Santana watches as her best friend talks animatedly about how Puck tried to sneak into the dress fitting and everyone at the table is laughing. She looks over to Finnick and sees that he isn't looking as happy as he should. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Finnick looks at Santana and nods. They move away from everyone else towards the back of the boat. He sits on the edge while she paces around.

"It's not fair you know." She looks at him and crosses her arms. "We just saw our best friends get married."

He blinks at her. "How is that not fair?"

"Because I want that some day! And I can't."

"Why can't you?" He feels nauseous.

"The man I love wants nothing to do with me. I want to know why. How can they get their sickeningly cute happy ever after and I can't?"

He looks down at his dress shoes. "Maybe it's safer that way."

Rachel looks in the direction that Finnick and Santana disappeared off to. "I think we might have made Santana feel worse."

"Don't worry. I have a plan all figured out." He smiles gently at her. "C'mere wife. We have a cake to cut soon." He kisses her temple down to her ear. "Then I'm going to have my way with you."

"Noah! You're so vulgar."

"You're stuck with me now baby. Hate to inform ya of that."

She rolls her eyes and looks back where Santana was sitting. "I hope your plan works."

He sighs. "Me too."

"Safer that way?" Santana stares at him with her jaw dropped. "You've got to be shitting me Finnick!"

"Look, I have an appointment tonight that Quinn set me up with. We can try and talk after that. But right now I'm sure Rachel isn't happy that we aren't celebrating with them." He stands up and offers her his hand. Santana looks down at it but walks away towards the front of the boat. Finnick sighs and runs his hands through his bronze hair, knowing that the second he sits down that Puck will be staring at him, wanting to know what's going on.

Puck walks over to where Santana just left and stuffs his hands into his pocket. "Quinn told me we should do the cake now since you have somewhere to be soon."

"Sorry about that, if I had known you guys were doing this then I probably would've asked her to reschedule."

"Nah man, don't worry about it. I'm ready to get home anyways." He winks at Finnick.

Finnick laughs and shakes his head. "C'mon, let's get you to your wife." He doesn't miss the small smile that spreads on Puck's face as he walks by.

Rachel stands by the cake, waiting for Puck and Finnick to come back while she bites her lip and looks at Santana worriedly. Her friend gives a small, sad smile before looking back down at the table. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. They were all supposed to be happy. The two men emerge and she can't but smile while Puck walks towards her.

"We'll have to make this quick. Finnick has to leave for an appointment soon."

She scrunches her eyebrows together and looks at him dejectedly standing away from Santana, staring at the ground. "How are we supposed to enjoy ourselves when they're clearly miserable?"

"Don't worry." He kisses her gently before moving to cut the cake.

Everyone is actually surprised when Puck behaves and doesn't push the cake into her nose, but then they all move so that the parents can clean up while they go back home. Rachel watches as Quinn moves towards Santana, saying something in her ear before walking off to Finnick to lead him to his appointment. Puck grips her hand and leads her towards their house, hugging everyone on their way out. She looks back at Santana as she moves away from the direction of her parents house.

Once Puck carried her bridal style into their house and up the stairs to the master bedroom, he sets her on her feet and kisses her heatedly.

"You look so sexy in this dress."

Rachel gathers her hair in one hand and spins around. "Take it off."

He looks down and sees a long line of lace covered buttons. "What the fuck?"

Biting her lip, she looks over her shoulder. "Is there a problem Noah?"

"I thought I told you guys to _not_ put a million buttons on?" He moves to undo the top one but it just stays in place. Puck glares at the dress until Rachel clears her throat. He looks up into her eyes as she smiles.

"There's a zipper underneath them."

Pulling the fabric inside, he sees that there is in fact a zipper. He pulls it down as fast as he can, letting the dress pool at her heels. Taking in a deep breath, he looks down to see that she only has on matching lace underwear and nothing else.

"Hang that up for me." She smiles and moves to lay on the bed, her hair fanning out along the light blue quilt.

He growls and hangs up the dress, stripping as he makes his way back to the bed. Rachel begins to toe off her heels but he grabs her ankle and puts it back on. "Keep 'em on." Puck kisses the inside of her ankle then up her leg while she closes her eyes and moans. "Fuck I love you."

"I love you too." Rachel opens her eyes and smiles.

* * *

><p>Finnick sits on the bed. He hasn't seen this building in all the time he's spent roaming around this area of District 4. Quinn told him that it wouldn't be too much longer till his client would be there so he just unbuttoned his shirt and went for a glass of wine that was sitting on the dresser. The door opens and he looks over his shoulder. He drops the glass when he sees Santana stepping across the threshold, the sound of shattering glass filling the room.<p>

"What are you doing here?" He asks darkly before turning to look at her, arms crossing over his chest.

Santana stares at his abs then looks up to his face. "Quinn told me to come here. What are you doing here? With your shirt undone? We still need to talk you know." She glares at him.

He moves across the room and grabs her face, kissing her before lifting her up and against the door. She wraps her legs around his hips, kissing him back before opening her mouth and granting his tongue access. Finnick moves his hand down to her ribs. She pushes him slightly and looks down at him.

"I don't fucking understand. Why did Quinn tell me to come here. Not that I don't like this."

"This is what I do." He now understands why Quinn told him that she made sure that the Capitol wasn't monitoring this building. He'll need to have a talk with her and Puck soon. "When I'm going to all these appointments, this is what I have to do. President's orders once I won the Games. It's why I can't be with you. But apparently something worked itself out so that we get each other tonight."

Santana tears up and looks away from him. "I think Puck had something to do with it." She moves her hand up to cover her mouth, hoping that she won't let out a sob. "They make you have sex with women?"

He puts his hand under her chin and forces her to look at him. "Yes, but I love you."

She kisses him hard and murmurs an 'I love you too' on his lips before she moves to push his shirt off of his shoulders. He's built like Puck, strong and muscular even though he's a little bit taller. Finnick sets her down on her feet, pulling the zipper at her side and lets her dress fall, then walks back towards the bed. She follows and strips off her undergarments then her heels. He quickly sheds his clothes and settles his hands on her hips as she straddles him.

"How much time do we have?"

"Quinn said all night."

Nodding, she leans down and captures his lips.

* * *

><p>Rachel leans against the headboard while Puck sets his head on the tops of her thighs, playing with her rings on her left hand while her right hand rubs his hair.<p>

"I can't believe we're married."

He smirks and runs his hand up along her side. "Don't regret it do ya?"

"Of course not!" She frowns down at him. "Why do you? Miss all the other girls that you could've had?"

Puck scoffs and turns on his side, kissing up her stomach. "Fuck no. But I am ready to celebrate our marriage a bit more." He moves so he's in between her legs and pulls her left leg up over his shoulder, her white heel digging into his shoulder blade. "I love these shoes." He mumbles while licking up her thigh.

"Do something, _husband_." She whines and moves to lay down on the bed.

He smirks against her mound. "Will do, _wife._" She moans loudly and reaches down to cradle the crown of his head with her hand.

* * *

><p><em>So, I'm sorry for the wait! I hit a road block, but much thanks to <strong>Shadowkitty22<strong> for helping me out! She suggested everything with the dress fitting and Puck crashing it then the line of buttons on the back of the dress._

_Also, I got the vows online so those totally aren't mine.  
><em>


	20. Chapter 20

**Still Don't Own Anything. Mistakes are 100% mine.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Two weeks after their wedding, Puck rolls out of bed and runs his hands down his face. He gets up and throws on a hooded sweatshirt and shorts to go running with Finnick. In reality, it's way too early for him. Rachel isn't even awake and she gets up at the crack of dawn. But ever since the wedding, he's been training with his best friend, in case Finnick would be going back to the games. Eventually Scarlett started to join them but she wouldn't join in on the morning jogs on the beach.<p>

Puck moves outside the house and stretches his arms up over his head then down to his feet, waiting for Finnick to move out of his house down the street. He finally appears and Puck jogs over, making their way to the beach. They've only gotten half a mile down when a Peacekeeper stops them.

"You need to turn around and return to your homes."

Finnick narrows his eyes. "We're victors, we can run along the beach if we want to."

"Yes Mr. Odair, I understand that but President Snow told us to tell any citizens to report to their home. There's going to be an announcement all along Panem. We're sorry to interrupt your run." The man shifts nervously with his gun and looks to the other Peacekeeper next to him.

"Alright, c'mon Puck." Finnick takes one last look at the scared Peacekeepers and moves back towards the Victor's Village.

He looks over his shoulder while they jog back. "What do you think that was about?"

"Fuck if I know man, but if they're gathering people at the last minute, I don't see it being good."

They move into Puck's house where Rachel is sitting in her pajamas in front of the TV on the couch, sipping coffee. Santana has her head resting on Rachel's thighs while Scarlett is yawning and sprawled out on the floor. Brittany is sitting next to Scarlett, scratching Lord Tubbington between his ears. Finnick moves to sit on the end of the couch, his head resting on the back of the cushions while Puck sits in front of his wife between her legs.

Rachel giggles and runs her hand down the back of his head then runs her fingers through Santana's hair. "They knocked on the doors this morning telling us we had to watch an announcement."

"Peacekeepers stopped us on the beach." Finnick lets out a snore and they all look over, laughing quietly.

The TV shows the seal of the Capitol, so Santana kicks Finnick to wake him up. He looks around then back at the screen. President Snow appears with Sue Sylvester in front of a podium at the Hunger Games stage where interviews are held. Puck looks over to Finnick and Scarlett.

"_Pardon the interruption of everyone's day, I understand that is very early for some of our citizens but we have a very important announcement to make." He smiles and motions for Sue to take his place in front of the podium. _

_She's wearing a dress suit, very much like the last time that Puck saw her. "Thank you Mr. President. I'm very happy to announce that the new arena is built and ready to go. Where it is located, the weather is in its prime, so President Snow has decided that the Reaping will happen the day after tomorrow. That is all, thank you." _

They both smile and leave the stage, with the seal of the Capitol returning to the screen. Everyone is quiet in the living room. Rachel's grip on his shoulder has tightened and both Santana and Scarlett are sitting up staring at the TV while Brittany looks at Finnick.

* * *

><p>Later that night, everyone is at their own house, thinking about what this could possibly mean. Well Brittany is with Scarlett and Santana is at Finnick's house. Rachel lays on her side, stroking Puck's back while he stares at her pillow.<p>

"I can't believe this. I don't even want to think of how it's going to go. There's so many fucking things we'll have to worry about."

"Honey, I know. But we have tonight and tomorrow to try and not think about it. Why don't we go on a picnic on the beach?" He nods and she tries to change the topic. "I think I need to cut down on the food that Quinn has been sending over from the Capitol. I'm gaining weight." She pouts and moves to lay down, shifting Puck's head so he's laying on her chest.

He shifts so that he's looking down at her. "Gaining weight? You look the same." Puck sits up and lifts up her shirt. There's a little weight gain, but her body still looks as tight as before he left for the Games. His lips touch her skin, pressing light kisses up to her breasts. Rachel shifts a little bit and hisses when he bites down. "What's wrong?" He pulls away abruptly.

"Don't bite so hard Noah." She rubs her chest lightly but moves to kiss him again.

Puck kisses her back but pulls away. "I didn't bite that hard Rach. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Rachel looks at him nervously.

"Are you pregnant?" He sits up and looks at her.

"I-I…I don't know. I don't think so." Tears build up in her eyes.

He pulls her in close and kisses the top of her hair. "Don't cry baby. We can go talk to my mom tomorrow. I'm sure it's just the food. It's really rich."

Rachel lets out a watery laugh. "You're terrible, but thank you for trying to make me feel better." She pulls away and looks down at her hands. "Would it be a bad thing if I was pregnant?"

"Nope. Our kid would be fucking amazing Rach."

She smiles and lays back down, curling up into Puck's side. "I hope he or she would have your eyes."

He looks down at her while she falls asleep instantly. Puck falls asleep thinking about what their son or daughter would look like.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Rachel wakes up and quickly gets dressed then throws some clothes on top of Puck so he'll get the hint to get ready.<p>

"Baby? What the fuck?"

"Noah, I'm incredibly nervous and I just want to know if what you said last night could be true. Please get dressed so we can go see your mother. I called my parent's bakery and my mother will be setting up our picnic. So hurry up!"

He groans and stands up, changing into the clothes and moves downs stairs. Rachel is waiting patiently by the door, smiling but biting her lip nervously at the same time. He doesn't even know how she can do that actually. Puck grabs her hand and pulls the door closed, not bothering to lock it. Messing with a victor's house isn't exactly a smart thing to do. She's practically dragging him to the apothecary shop his mother works at, he's having to jog just to keep up with her.

"Noah, Rachel! What are you two doing here?" Emily smiles and wipes her hands on a hand towel before moving in front of the counter to hug them both.

"Um, we wanted you to check Rachel out. She's kinda...worried." He shifts his eyes away while rubbing the back of his neck.

"What's wrong?" She lifts her hand to Rachel's forehead then to the side of her cheek. "You don't feel like you have a fever."

"Oh, it's nothing like that. I've gained a little weight and my breasts are tender."

"Fuck, can I please wait outside?" Puck looks between the two.

"NOAH!" They both glare at him and he backs away, moving to the seat behind the counter while they talk to each other.

Emily leads them into another room that has an ultrasound machine. Rachel lays down while Puck sits next to her, holding her hand while tapping his foot against the floor. "Lift up your shirt dear, this is going to be a bit cold." Some gel is squeezed onto her stomach then Emily moves the wand over her stomach. She drops the the wand and moves her hands to her mouth, screaming slightly.

"Geez, what the hell ma?"

"What's wrong?" Rachel sits up and looks at her mother-in-law nervously.

"I'm going to be a grandmother!" She jumps up and down before handing Rachel a towel then pulling her son into a hug.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so this chapter isn't the best <em>ever<em>, actually it kinda sucks and shorter than I wanted, but I wanted to get one out so I could ask you guys something. I hate to be someone who asks for reviews, but I want the opinion of anyone who reads this. I'm wondering if I should end this soon and wrap it up with a different ending I thought of or keep going and go in the direction that I originally planned to go to. I just feel like it's not getting enough attention or no one is enjoying it anymore. Please let me know!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Still don't own Glee or the Hunger Games. Mistakes are all mine.  
><strong>

**-**I know this has taken FOREVER and a day for me to post. I swear I haven't forgotten it. I just couldn't think of how to write any of it. But now that I'm past this chapter, the next one _will_ be longer. Sorry this is so short. Thank you to everyone who is still reading. It means a ton to me.

* * *

><p>Rachel sits on the blanket and leans back against Puck's chest between his legs. His arm wraps around her protectively. "Who do you want to tell baby?"<p>

"Can we wait? Until after the Quarter Quell? I'm just really nervous."

"But you'll be getting bigger Rachel. You're going to need help when I'm gone."

"So I'll tell San. I just don't need Finnick thinking about it if he ends up getting reaped." She turns in his arms. "Do you think we should tell him?"

"I don't know Rachel." He brushes her hair over her shoulder. And gently kisses her neck.

"Your mother said that we'll probably be able to tell the sex of the baby in a few weeks."

"Excited?"

"I think I might wait to find out until you get back."

"I'm fine with that. Hopefully I won't be gone too long."

Rachel leans her head against his chest and breathes in deeply. "I hope not. I'm really scared about the Reaping tomorrow."

"Well stop. It's bad for the baby." He smiles when she giggles.

"We're having a baby."

* * *

><p>The morning of the Reaping, Puck wakes up and scrubs his hands over his face. Rachel is already out of bed and he can smell food wafting in from the kitchen. He gets up and moves to the bathroom to get ready. Based on what Finnick has said, he has absolutely nothing to worry about today on his end besides worrying about Sarah. Shaking his head, Puck turns on the water and stares at the reflection in the mirror. The bags under his eyes from his dreams are slowly disappearing. He's been sleeping better since he's been back with Rachel and his family. Puck runs his hand over the scruff on his face but Brittany is just going to take care of it when they get to the Capitol anyways, so he leaves it alone.<p>

"Noah!" Rachel calls up the stairs. "Breakfast is almost ready. Everyone's going to be here soon."

"Yeah." He half yells towards the door, not really caring if she hears him or not.

Standing under the spray of the hot water, he tries not to think about what will be happening in a few hours. Or where he'll be going while his pregnant wife has to stay at home and watch the Games on television. His forehead rests against the cool tile and Puck lets out a sigh then shuts off the water. When he gets back to their room, he sees that Rachel laid out a few choices for him to wear. Grabbing the first things that he sees, Puck moves his way downstairs to see everyone sitting at the kitchen table. No one is talking, just mindlessly nibbling on whatever Rachel made. She bites her bottom lip and looks over to him, trying not to cry.

When they get to the square he moves to the area reserved for victors after kissing Rachel quickly on the lips. Finnick is sitting in his seat, staring at Quinn moving around the stage with Brittany off to the side. Scarlett is sitting next to Emma and Annie, looking down at the ground nervously. All the years before, the victors looked content in this area. Safe. But now each of them are thinking about what the possibilities are that could be happening this year. Which one of them will be thrown back into the arena.

"How are you feeling?"

Puck looks over to Finnick and shrugs. "According to you, I have nothing to worry about. So I'm just fucking dandy."

"You don't." Finnick smirks and looks at the stage where the mayor has moved to, rambling on about the history and what the Quarter Quells stand for.

Moving his ankle so it's resting across his left knee, Puck leans forward and sets his elbow down as Quinn moves to the bowl. Her eyes dart over to all the victors. "Good luck to all the tributes." She smiles brightly at the crowd. Her hand moves around the bowl and when she pulls up a slip of paper, her smile falters. Quinn calls out a name that he doesn't recognize and breathes out a sigh of relief knowing that his sister is safe before his gut clenches.

"And for our male tribute." She pulls over a separate bowl with two slips of paper in it. The crowd looks over at him and Finnick. Puck doesn't have a doubt in his mind that his mother, sister, Rachel and Santana are crying while holding each other. Quinn pulls out a slip and her eyes dart over to them, trying to hold her smile. "Finnick Odair."

A guard comes over to him while Quinn is finishing up her speech and Finnick is moving towards the stage. "Quickly say goodbye to your wife. We're leaving right when she's done."

He looks at the guard before getting up quickly and hugging his family. Closing his eyes, he pulls Rachel in tightly to his chest. "I'll see you in a few weeks baby. I love you."

"I love you too Noah. What's going on?"

"I don't know. Don't stress out." Puck has to practically scream at her before a Peacekeeper is pulling him away towards the train. Quinn is moving down and looking around worriedly while other Peacekeepers are pushing the girl tribute and Finnick towards the train.

"Wait, they're supposed to get goodbyes! What are you doing?" Quinn looks between all the guards then back at the mayor.

"We're under strict orders to get the tributes onto the train and headed towards the Capitol as soon as possible. No goodbyes this year."

They all board the train and Finnick is standing by the window, looking out to where he knows their family is. His head drops down before brushing by Puck towards the room that's always been his as a mentor. Emma watches him before bringing her hand to her face, trying to subtly wipe away her tears. Scarlett escorts the new girl to her room on the train before Puck idly moves towards his. Once he's got the door closed, Puck looks around. It's hard to believe that it's only been a few months since he was on the way to his own Hunger Games.

Puck falls face first onto the bed. It feels exactly like the one in his home and he's surprisingly acquainted with everything on the train because of the Capitol influence inside of his victor's house. He wonders how Santana is feeling right now since they didn't get to say anything to Finnick. He shakes his head and rolls onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. The train isn't moving as fast and at this rate they'll get to the Capitol in the morning. The last thing he remembers before he falls asleep is Brittany crawling onto his bed and crying, curling up against his side.

* * *

><p>Rachel walks throughout the house, flicking off lights and making sure the front door is locked. Everything that Puck usually does at night while she's laying in bed or taking a bath. She's about to turn into her room but she hears a sob coming from down the hall. Moving towards the door, she cracks it open and pokes her head inside. The lamp by the bed is the only light in the room and shows a bump under the covers. Santana is in the fetal position, crying silently but a small sob coming out every now and then. She moves towards her best friend, crawling under the quilt and pulling Santana into her lap, stroking her hair.<p>

"I can't believe they just took him. They _always_ get to say goodbye. An hour." She chokes out while trying to control her crying and breathing.

"San, I know. Noah didn't even know what was going on."

Santana rolls onto her back and looks up at Rachel, tears streaming down her face. "I didn't get to tell him I love him again."

"Noah will do everything he can to get Finnick home. You know that. So will Emma and Scarlett. Brittany will probably have something to do with it too." Rachel tries to smile.

"Why does everything have to suck so damn bad?"

They sit there for a little bit until Rachel stills her fingers in Santana's hair. "San?"

"Yeah Rach?"

"I'm pregnant." She barely whispers.

Her best friend sits up and wipes her cheeks before looking down at Rachel's stomach. "Are you serious?" Rachel nods. "That's amazing!" Santana pulls her into a tight hug.

"Only Noah's mom knows. And my parents."

"You haven't told Finnick?" Her eyes search Rachel's.

She shakes her head, a tear falling down her cheek. "We decided it would be too much stress for him. Finnick just needs to worry about getting home."

Santana starts to cry and they hug each other. "Thank you for telling me."

"Of course. Let's get some sleep. We've got a rough few weeks ahead of us."

"I love you Rach."

Rachel murmurs an 'I love you too' before wrapping her arm around Santana then linking their fingers together.

* * *

><p><em>He's back in the arena, trying to find where his and Scarlett's camp is set up. It's down to the final few tributes so Puck has his all of his weapons ready to go at a moment's notice. Plus this part of the arena is safe at this hour so walking through the trees doesn't pose a threat. But then he walks by a tree and hears a scream. Turning around abruptly, he sees Clove laying on the ground laughing. <em>

"_What the hell is your problem?" He snaps and looks around, seeing if Cato or anyone else is near. _

"_She's going to die here." Clove smiles innocently and sits against a tree. _

_His eyes narrow at her. _"_Who?"_

"_Your daughter." _

_Sitting down across from the young girl, he looks at her questioningly. "How do you know that Rachel is pregnant?"_

"_Does that really matter? I assumed that you'd be more curious about how I know she's going to die. Here, during the Hunger Games." _

"_Then why don't you just fucking tell me if you want me to know so bad." Puck narrows his eyes even more at her. _

_She grins and stands up, pacing in front of his feet. "She'll be beautiful like Rachel you know. But you've already had nightmares that she looks like me. We do both have beautiful eyes." Clove shrugs and stops in front of him. "And _believe_ me, she'll suffer. Just like I did. Just like Cato did. And it'll be all _your_ fault." _

Puck wakes up, accidentally shoving Brittany off the bed. "Fuck!"

"What? What's going on? Are we at the Capitol?" The blonde jumps to her feet and runs to the window, only to see that they're still moving and it's dark outside. "I don't want to be there yet." She pouts and looks over at Puck.

"That fucking dream." If he had any hair to pull, he'd be pulling it out right now.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He nods. Whenever a nightmare would wake him up, Rachel would make him talk about it. It was surprising to him too when it _actually_ helped.

"Clove?"

"Am I that fucking predictable now?" He sighs and sets his head in Brittany's lap. "She kept saying my daughter would die there. And that she will look like Clove."

"What else?" She runs her hand over Puck's shaved head.

"Clove said it'd be my fault." He closes his eyes and rolls onto his side. "I'm sick of all these fucking nightmares. They'll just be worse now."

"We're going to make it through this. Finnick too. He's strong."

"Yeah, but now all the victors _and_ the tributes know what to look for when it comes to him."

"He's been watching tapes from all the others victors years. And the new tributes don't have anything on those who have won before. It's possible Puck, you just have to believe in him."

"Brittany, you're so fucking smart." He chuckles and smiles up at her.

"Plus he has to get back to Santana." Brittany smiles sadly at him.

"Yeah I know." Puck runs his hand down over his face again before sitting up. He holds his hand out to her then move towards the door.

They both move towards the dining room to get some food since everyone just disappeared to their rooms once they were pushed onto the train. But as they move down the hallway, the room with the television is glowing. Puck opens the door and sees Finnick staring at a tape with District 12's victor in it. The last Quarter Quell.

"Why are you two up?" Finnick asks while staring at the screen, never taking his eyes off it for a second.

"Puck had a nightmare then we got hungry."

The bronze haired man grunts and nods his head. Brittany disappears to talk to a Capitol attendant to get all of them some food and drinks while Puck sits down next to his best friend. "We're getting you back home."

"I know Puckerman. Why do you think I'm sitting here watching all this shit?" He smirks.

He rolls his eyes and leans forward on his knees. "So cocky"

"Better watch it. You know you got it from me." Finnick elbows his friend then sighs. "Look, I wrote San a note while I was in my room. If I die, you gotta give it to her." He glances at Puck from the corner of his eye.

"Of course." Puck looks down at the ground and sighs. The next few weeks are going to be rough.


	22. Chapter 22

**Don't own Glee or the Hunger Games**

* * *

><p>Puck leans against the palm of his hand while they watch the rest of the second Quarter Quell. Brittany is laying across their laps as Finnick leans over, watching intently. They must have been sitting there watching for what seemed like hours. And the most that he's learned about Haymitch, is that he's completely brutal. He doesn't have sympathy even though during this Quell, there were twice as many tributes. There was only one person that he was nice towards, but at least Haymitch didn't have to kill her. But towards the end of the tape, both of them move closer to the TV to see what he discovers. Finnick looks over at him then back at the screen.<p>

"I think I need Haymitch as an ally."

"That could be smart. But you also have training where you can see who else could be of value to you. You don't need just one fucking person Finnick."

"The less that are allies, the less amount of people I'll feel guilty for killing. And if comes down to me and Haymitch, at least the Capitol will get a good show like they always want. Look at the fight between you and Cato. They nearly lost their victor."

He looks down at Brittany's calves on top of his thighs. "Do you really think you could beat him?"

"He's an old man. I'm eighteen and I have way more muscle than him. If I die, would it be such a bad thing? Apart from the obvious."

"Yes it fucking matters." Puck stares at his best friend. How could he say something like that?

"Besides being free from the Capitol and not being with you, San, Rach and everyone else, how could it possibly be so bad?"

"Because you're going to be a fucking godfather."

Finnick leans back against the couch, his hands falling limply to the side. "Rachel's pregnant?"

He licks his lips and leans back too. "Yeah. We wanted to wait to tell you, so that you could focus on getting home. But fuck, you're my _best_ friend. You needed to know, whether something happens or you come back as another victor."

"Shit." Finnick runs his hand down his face and over his scruff. "Guess I don't have a choice now do I?"

"I hope you didn't have a fucking choice in the first place. How could you not fight to come home to Santana? If you were to win these Games, you'd be a double victor or whatever. Snow would have to set you free."

"No, that'd give him even more reason to keep me. Think about it."

Puck sighs and tips his head back. "You're right."

Brittany rolls over across their laps, wrapping her arms around Finnick's waist before snuggling her face into his shirt. The bronze haired man runs his fingers through her hair before looking over at Puck. "She reminds me of Beth. So innocent and loving."

"She's pretty great."

"Is it a boy or girl?"

"Don't know yet. My ma said we'd know in a few weeks, but Rachel wants to wait until I'm back. Preferably with me dragging your ass back."

Finnick nods his head. "I guess we better get some sleep before we get to the Capitol. Especially since the train is going slow as fuck."

* * *

><p>Puck's adjusting the collar of his shirt as he walks towards the carriage that will carry Finnick and the female tribute to the stage. Now that he thinks about it, finding out her name would probably help out since he's a mentor and all. The tribute in question is currently petting the nose of the horse next to her. Her costume is much like his and Scarlett's were during his Hunger Games. It's an elaborate dress but she looks she came right out of the ocean.<p>

He moves his gaze, looking around at all the other tributes talking until his eyes land on Finnick. His best friend is talking to a few of the other victors and some others that he doesn't recognize, only Haymitch and District 7's victor, Joanna, catch his attention.

"Do you want in Finnick?" Haymitch raises his eyebrow at the bronze haired man.

"Yeah, but…" He looks over to Puck, who has his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face. "I don't want to get him involved. He has too much to lose whereas I don't."

"Don't worry, we can leave him out. Your other mentors as well. We don't need them." Joanna shrugs.

His eyebrows shoot up, shocked at how much she sounds like Santana. "That's fine. So how exactly are we going to pull this off?"

"We'll tell you the details later. They're about to gather all of us together and show us off like animals. Just keep a neutral face and don't give them the satisfaction." Haymitch looks at everyone before moving towards his carriage with his fellow tribute and mentors.

"What was that all about?" Puck asks when Finnick moves next to their carriage.

"Just catching up with old friends."

"Who's the girl from District 12?"

"Katniss. They gathered two teenagers to be mentors since Haymitch was an automatic pick. Gale and Peeta. I don't know how they'll survive."

Puck glances at the area marked off for 12 behind them before looking back at Finnick. "Are you hiding something from me?"

"Why the fuck would you think that?" His eyebrows scrunch together. "Just because you're my mentor now doesn't mean a fucking thing. I won these games way before you did."

"What the fuck is your problem?" Puck glares at his friend before walking away towards where he saw Emma and Scarlett disappear to.

Finnick sighs and runs his hands through his hair before moving into the carriage. He's staring at the other horses and carriages in front of their own, his eyes on the extravagant costumes that they're wearing to represent the other Districts above his own. The richer ones.

"So what were you talking to them about?"

He looks to the side, taking in the tribute. She's got dark hair with little streaks of red and dark eyes. "Just business. Alliances."

She nods. "It's an honor to meet you. Although it's a shame that it's under these circumstances."

"What's your name?"

"Chloe."

"Nice to meet you too. Ya know, if this wasn't so shitty."

"Of course. So is the girl from 12 the only tribute allowed in your alliance?" Chloe asks quietly, looking over her shoulder at the other tributes.

"I don't know anything about any of that yet. They just asked me to join a few minutes ago. Why? I figured you would want to get with the other new tributes to try and take us out or something."

"If I'm going to be killed, then I want to be killed honorably. By a victor." The brunette shrugs and looks out in front of her.

"We'll see. You don't know what you want until you get in the arena and work on surviving." Finnick smirks at her then changes his expression to neutral when the carriage begins to move.

* * *

><p>Santana sinks onto the floor against the couch next to Rachel, handing her a bowl of crackers. Being woken up by the sound of her pregnant best friend throwing up is not the most pleasant experience. Then she wonders if Puck had to deal with any of this before he left. If he didn't, he's a lucky bastard.<p>

She's nibbling on a cracker when someone knocks on the door. Rachel groans and slowly stands up, moving towards the front of the house while Santana puts on the channel for the opening ceremonies. Pulling open the door a little more forcefully than she wanted, she's greeted by two Peacekeepers.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Puckerman. We just need to see if you have the Hunger Games on."

Rachel motions her hand towards the TV so that they'll go and check. Everyone is supposed to watch the Games, unless death is at your door then there's an exception. But she just leans against the wall until they're satisfied.

"Thank you." They both nod at her before leaving the house. Rachel locks it behind them before she moves back onto the floor, setting her head in Santana's lap before munching on a cracker again.

"I miss them both already." She mumbles quietly.

"I didn't realize how much Puck and Finnick did around here. And it's so fucking quiet without them eating or being obnoxious."

"They were loud weren't they?" She giggles and looks towards the TV.

District One is coming out right now. The crowds are cheering but the victor just looks pissed. It isn't until they get to District Four that everyone gets quiet. Finnick has a neutral expression on that quickly turns to a scowl. All the women that are being shown on TV have their hands to their mouths.

"Why are they acting like that?" Rachel wonders out loud.

"Maybe they're just now realizing that all the victors that they adore could be dead by this time next year. And Finnick was the favorite out of them all." Her hand reaches down into the bowl to grab a cracker, just so she has something to do besides cry.

"He'll get back. I know it." Her hand reaches down to the barely there baby bump and rubs her thumb back and forth.

"I hope so." Santana says quietly.

* * *

><p>Puck walks down the hall on their floor of the training center towards Quinn's room. He taps his knuckles against the door a few times before it opens up. She smiles at him and crosses her arms.<p>

"What can I do for you Puck?"

"Since I'm a mentor and all now, am I allowed to use the phone? To call Rachel?"

"Of course! There's a phone in your room, so you're welcome to use it."

"Thanks Quinn, goodnight."

He turns and moves towards his room. Once he's inside, Puck unbuttons his shirt then reaches for the phone. When the ringing starts, he really hopes that he has the right number. But then a sleepy voice answers. "Hey baby."

"_Noah? Is that you?"_

"Yeah Rach, it's me. How are you feeling?"

"_Sick. Santana's been handing me crackers all day." _

"Fuck, I'm sorry baby." He pauses and takes a deep breath. "How is she?" Puck lays down and stares at the ceiling.

"_She's holding back. And I don't know what to do. She was the one who kept me going when you were gone but I think she feels like he's not going to come back. There's other victors and... I just don't know what to do."_ Her voice cracks at the end.

"We're getting him back. We will."

"_And I want to tell her that, but you know how stubborn she is. Santana's like me but kind of worse in that way." _

"I know. You gotta be strong for her baby. She believed in me, for whatever fucking reason, and we believe in Finnick. He's strong and he's going to prove it whenever they get their scores. And he's been watching tapes. It'll work."

"_I hope you're right Noah." _

"He knows about the baby. Finnick is really happy for us."

"_Please bring him back."_ Rachel says quietly. _"We need him."_

"I'm working on it. But I gotta go, early morning. I love you baby. All three of you."

"_I'll tell San you said that. We both love you too. Goodnight." _

After hanging up the phone, he moves to take a hot shower. This time he knows what buttons he wants to press. Everything is easier now that he's accustomed to mostly everything the Capitol has to offer. The fluffy towels are like his back home now and the bathroom is nearly the same. Once he's done, he runs his hand over his head before slipping on some pajama pants then moving towards the bed. Scarlett is sitting in the chair in the corner, nervously chewing on her nail.

"What's up?" He scrunches his eyebrows together before sitting down and facing her.

"Do you think Finnick is hiding something from us?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Emma and I saw him talking to that group of victors like you did. She thinks that he's hiding something too. And that group, I mean…I just don't understand. We're his mentors."

Puck shakes his head and wraps his left hand around his first, leaning forward on his knees. "I don't know. I asked him what he was doing with them and he got all weird. Honestly he's never gotten fucking angry with me like he did. So something is up." He sighs. "But…I don't think we should talk about it." His eyes meets with hers before subtly looking around the room. "He probably just has an idea of what he wants to do when he gets in the arena. After all, he's been watching the tapes that Quinn got him. He's probably in that room now."

Scarlett nods and looks around. "Yeah, you're right. It's our job to just get him supplies. It's his job to strategize." She shrugs.

"Exactly. We better get some sleep." Puck smiles tightly. It's not exactly easy reassuring her.

"Goodnight Puck."


	23. AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey guys,

So I never wanted to be a person who made an entire chapter for an author's note, but here I am. Sorry for the false hope you guys may have gotten in your email.

I have received a lot of reviews saying to update soon, but I've gotten pretty busy since the last time I updated. I got engaged and I'm trying to think of wedding planning, along with trying to get into my program into school. I haven't forgotten about my stories and I know where I want them to go but it's getting the right wording down in order to get to that point. So, no, I will not be auctioning off my story to another writer or anything else.

I really appreciate those of you who have stuck with my stories and I promise I will try to get something out soon. I'd rather wait and get something out that I think is good, rather than just getting something awful out. Again, I hope you guys will stick around for an update. I apologize to leave all of you hanging.

-Jenn


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